Sustainability and Resilience Crew

Every student at Warren Wilson College works.
What work crew will you choose?

The Sustainability and Resilience Crew was born out of crisis, showing up for our community in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, and learning what resilience really looks like in practice. That foundation hasn’t gone away. As the crew moves forward, you’ll carry those lessons into a new chapter: working alongside the Climate Action Plan Crew to turn values into action and implement campus sustainability initiatives, with a focus on the long-term health and well-being of Warren Wilson.

A key part of your work is hosting public forums, open to students, staff, and faculty, where community members can raise issues, propose actions, and engage directly with sustainability efforts on campus. The crew remains responsive and project-based, but is shifting toward building lasting systems alongside responding to immediate needs.

Why Work Crews?

Part of your work experience is reflection, helping ensure that you achieve both your own educational goals as well as our Common Learning Outcomes. These distinguish our Work Program, giving it focus and relevancy that set it apart from a federal work-study or your average part-time job.  Each crew in the Work Program identifies crew-specific goals as well. These outline skills and abilities your supervisor will teach you during the semester. 

Our Common Learning Outcomes

  • Professionalism & Work Ethic: accountability, effective work habits, punctuality, dependability, time management, integrity, and commitment to the well-being of the community.
  • Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: working with available resources to creatively address issues and solve problems, and gaining confidence to make decisions.
  • Communication: the ability to convey and receive information effectively with intentionality, honesty, and confidence in both speech and writing.
  • Collaboration & Teamwork: actively collaborate with peers to achieve common goals, Distribute labor fairly, and hold each other accountable as committed members of a group.
  • Civic Identity: understanding your active influence within the community and how your decisions directly impact the work around you.

Sustainability and Resilience Crew Learning Goals

  • Facilitation & Mediation: Master the art of hosting forums and learning how to turn community feedback into actionable project goals.
  • Systems Assessment: Learn to analyze how physical infrastructure (like power and waste) and social systems (like emergency networks) work together.
  • Applied Project Management: Gain experience taking a project from an idea to a finished, physical result on campus.
  • Creative Outreach: Develop skills in digital and interpersonal communication to make complex topics relatable and actionable for all students.
  • Opportunity for leadership.
  • Build skills based on what students are wanting to pursue