Environmental problems have never been more pressing. You can read it in the news and see it in the changing local weather. How should we understand these problems? How can they be communicated? What do solutions look like? How can we take action to make positive change? Students in this Pathway will explore these questions and prepare for careers that address the sustainability challenges of our time.

The Sustainability Pathway will help students explore several ways to effect change: through communication, political action, social change, organizational leadership, and technological or institutional innovation. The Pathway includes coursework on environmental problems and strategies for environmental solutions, experiential learning opportunities in the sustainability field, and reflection. As sustainability is inherently interdisciplinary, this Pathway draws on tools from numerous academic areas and emphasizes the application of knowledge and experience after graduation.

Students who pursue this Pathway will develop a better understanding of possible careers addressing environmental problems and of the skill sets that can help them to pursue a career in this area. Career opportunities include (but are not limited to) work in the fields of:

• Sustainability in the business sector
• Higher education
• Local and national non-profit organizations
• Environmental education
• Conservation organizations
• Governmental agencies
• Renewable energy companies

*ENVC Differences

Course Numbers – PATH courses for Sustainability Pathway end with a ‘6’ (ex. PATH 11006 and PATH 22006) and the ENVC tag

Academic Courses – 3 required

Career Experiences / Experiential Learning – no differences

PATH 11006: Initial Reflection – ENVC

This course asks you to complete three basic steps:

1. Spend time reflecting on several questions about why you’ve chosen this Pathway, noticing how your experiences and various aspects of your personal identity might play into your career direction.
2. Career readiness assessments – complete a self-assessment of 8 career readiness areas, ask a former supervisor to assess you also, and then compare the two in order to generate goals for growth as a professional.
3. Discuss your thoughts with other Sustainability students, faculty, and staff.
4. Write about how your initial thoughts, the conversations you had with your Pathway community, and any new or different insights you have as a result.

PATH 22006: Career Planning – ENVC

For this course, you will explore career and internship resources supported by Career Planning in APEX, specifically Handshake and LinkedIn. You will also craft a career-ready resume. We strongly encourage you to take advantage of the many resources offered by the Career Planning office to bring your resume to a truly professional level. Booking an appointment with a Career Planning staff member or peer advisor to go over your resume is strongly recommended.

PATH 33006: Experiential Learning – ENVC

This course asks you to complete an authentic, hands-on experience in one of the career areas you’re exploring. It is more than simply having an experience, however. In order to maximize the benefits and learning you gain, you will deliberately walk through goal setting, planning, and “preflection” (pre-reflection) before you complete the career experience. During and after your experience, you will spend time considering what you learned about yourself from the experience and how those lessons might impact your next career steps. Completing this thorough, guided process is what makes this “experiential learning” rather than just an experience.

**Note that this course will require you to complete some components BEFORE registering**

Steps to complete PATH 330:

Before Registering:

1. Explore a range of possible experiences that will help you further your career goals.
2. Plan your EL experience, taking advantage of resources and assistance offered by faculty or staff on the Pathway team, someone from APEX’s Experiential Learning & Community Engagement Office, Wooster alumni working in the career field, and/or your own connections in the field.
3. Complete the EL Approval Form & gain official approval from your Pathway faculty/staff team.

During the Course:

1. Complete your EL experience (can be done before or during PATH 330).
2. Upload your EL Verification Form.
3. Complete a self-assessment of your career readiness as revealed through your EL experience and reflect on any differences with your supervisor’s evaluation in the EL Verification Form.
4. Submit your post-EL reflection.

PATH 44006: Final Reflection – ENVC

When you’ve completed all the elements of the Pathway – PATH 110, 220, 330 and your chosen topical courses – you will reflect on your total Pathways experience with questions like: What did the topical courses teach you that are relevant to this career area? What are the career lessons from your experiential learning experience(s)? How did your perceptions of this career area and your place in it shift over time and where have they landed for now? When you step back and look at the bigger picture of your Pathways experience, in what ways are you stronger and more prepared to take your next career steps?

You will present your reflections publicly, which both encourages significant reflection and benefits those who are coming behind you on their own career journeys. Generally, students will do this by presenting a poster at a college event.

Other, smaller, components of the PATH 440 course include:

1. Update your resume to be career ready.
2. Create or update your LinkedIn profile.
3. Complete a final career readiness assessment series:
   • Assess yourself, especially observing any growth that’s happened over your time in the Pathway
   • Ask a current supervisor, adult coworker, coach, or your IS advisor to complete an assessment
   • Compare and contrast all career readiness assessments (all your self- assessments plus all your supervisor assessments) to discover areas you’ve grown and determine your next steps for growth in these important areas.
4. Complete a few short end-of-Pathways surveys.

Students in the Sustainability Pathway are required to complete one (1) EL opportunity.

The purpose of this experience is to “try out” the type of career you’re interested in. This allows you the opportunity to experience it first hand and reflect on components of the work you enjoy and don’t enjoy, giving you important insights to use as you consider whether this type of career is, in fact, a good fit for you or whether you might pursue something slightly (or totally) different. The experience should also offer you the chance to network in your career area of interest and ask purposeful questions of professionals in the field.

Note: an experience might technically “count” as an EL for this Pathway but not be a good fit for you because it doesn’t help you explore and experience careers you’re interested in. It’s strongly recommended that you focus on experiences related to your specific career interests.

Please note that EL’s must be approved by your Pathway advisor.  In particular, the examples listed below with an asterisk* do not automatically qualify as Experiential Learning, but students must be able to demonstrate how these provide an up-close and in-depth experience of a sustainability-related career.  The following EL opportunities are examples of what may count toward the Sustainability Pathway:

* Only counts if it provides an up-close and in-depth (min. 45 hours) experience of a sustainability-related career. The student must be able to explain how this experience relates to a career of interest.

Download a copy of your Pathway’s checklist so you can keep track of your progress: