This content was published: April 16, 2020. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
PCC’s Earth Week will continue in virtual world April 20-24
Photos and Story by James Hill
This year’s Earth Week celebration from April 20-24 is still happening, albeit in the virtual world.
Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, PCC announced it was moving classes and business services online while closing physical campuses and centers. With an annual event as interactive and hands-on as Earth Week, that posed a problem. But staff and students have risen to the challenge.
This year’s Virtual Earth Week will feature plenty of engaging and educational online activities, such as a new take on bingo, Instagram fun and much more. This is all designed to inspire the Portland Community College community to think green.
According to the celebration’s communications coordinator, Raquel Salazar, it was hard to move the Earth Week online. But she and the college’s sustainability team worked together to find ways to engage PCC students, faculty and staff from the comfort of their homes. As a team they emailed, video chatted and compiled virtual resources that were informative and easily accessible.
“Our sustainability analyst, Stephania Fregosi, had a great idea to make a virtual bingo card to capture various topics within sustainability while providing fun and interactive ways to learn,” Salazar added. “We focused on trying to make ‘Virtual Earth Week’ as engaging as possible for individuals to still feel empowered during this crisis.”
Activities include:
- Virtual Bingo — Download the Earth Week Bingo PDF and complete activities to be entered in a chance to win sustainability swag.
- Instagram Challenge — Follow @PCC_Sustain on Instagram and complete the hashtag challenge.
- Tutorials — Tips and tutorials will be posted daily on the @PCC_Sustain Instagram. Each post enters users into PCC’s #EarthWeek raffle.
Check out the entire lineup of events, or email sustainability@pcc.edu for info.
“I am most excited about our ‘Instagram Challenge,’” Salazar stated. “I hope to see a lot of photos/videos from PCC students, faculty and staff showing how they are celebrating ‘Virtual Earth Week.’ We still want participants to learn the importance of sustainability, social justice, climate activism and individual action for the betterment of our world and communities. It focuses on individual understanding and empowerment to support collective action.”
About James Hill
James G. Hill, an award-winning journalist and public relations writer, is the Director of Public Relations at Portland Community College. A graduate of Portland State University, James has worked as a section editor for the Newberg Graphic... more »