UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Isabella Briseño, a recent Penn State graduate who double majored in environmental resource management and political science, was selected as a 2023 Campus Sustainability Champion by the Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium.
The Campus Sustainability Champion award goes to Pennsylvania college or university students, staff or faculty whose sustainability work significantly impacted their campus or community.
Briseño was recognized with the other awardees at the virtual 2023 Campus Sustainability Champion Celebration. Other Penn State students and faculty have previously been recognized with the award.
Briseño, a New Jersey native, said she felt “very humbled” to receive the award and explained she is grateful for partnerships with individuals in the College of the Agricultural Sciences and at the Sustainability Institute from whom she learned and who encouraged her passion for sustainability work.
“The recognition gives momentum to keep going and to keep meeting people, working with people, and learning and messing up and trying again,” Briseño said. “I hope that it’s a signal to students who I’ve worked with who are still at Penn State or students who have graduated that sustainability work does matter, even when it’s really easy to lose hope.”
During her time at Penn State, Briseño completed an internship at the Penn State Sustainability Institute. Her work included helping a team of faculty and staff develop a 38-question sustainability survey for University Park students to understand students’ insight and knowledge of sustainability.
The survey received more than 1,000 responses, which were shared with the Faculty Senate last February and with sustainability councils across the commonwealth.
“Bella has been an outstanding intern, student and colleague,” said Peter Buck, academic programs manager and Briseño’s internship supervisor. “Whether she was standing up for young people’s voting rights, working through the technical side of climate planning or working with her peers to engage citizens, I had the immense fortune of seeing her flourish. I could not be more grateful to her for all she’s done and more proud to be her mentor.”
Briseño also worked with Lydia Vandenbergh, associate director of employee engagement and education at the Sustainability Institute, assisting with an employee engagement program.
Briseño said she first became interested in sustainability as a freshman in high school after watching a shark documentary, which she said was her first insight into the reality of a changing world and how humans impact that change.
“When I entered the ERM major as a freshman, I did not know exactly what sustainability meant,” Briseño said. “My time in the college taught me that sustainability is about helping the environment and people prosper. It boils down to wanting to help people.”
Briseño expressed gratitude for the ERM program advisers — Tammy Shannon, academic advising coordinator for the ERM major, and Rob Shannon, program coordinator for ERM — who helped make a “big place like Penn State feel more manageable and like we had a community inside a much larger community.” She said they helped with professional development and wellbeing and served as an anchor for her in the college.
“Having that anchor gave me the opportunities to explore co-curricular things like internships with the Sustainability Institute or University Park Undergraduate Association or other student organizations,” Briseño said. “It was because I felt like I had a good grounding in who I was as an ERM student in the College of Ag Sciences that I could then see where else I could flourish and grow.”
She added that it was exciting to see how sustainability and agriculture are connected.
“Bella is truly phenomenal,” said Tammy Shannon, who was Briseño’s academic adviser. “Her passion and quiet confidence bring people together on issues that pertain to policy, the environment, sustainability and regenerative practices. It’s been an honor to know her and serve as her academic adviser during her time at Penn State.”
Briseño was involved in extracurricular activities and research projects while at Penn State, including serving on the Student Sustainability Advisory Council and as executive director of environmental sustainability for the University Park Undergraduate Association.
Following her recent graduation, Briseño said she will begin part-time project management work in June for AY Young, a United Nations youth ambassador and musician. She also will volunteer with Olas y Acción through the Hispanic Access Foundation. Eventually, Briseño said, she hopes to enter local government, promoting sustainable policy.