Planet Mentorship Continues to Create Opportunities for Students
The Planet Mentorship Program recently completed its third cohort.
The program started in 2022-23 through the collaboration of Ariel Stevenson of the Office of Inclusive Excellence, Juliana Goodlaw-Morris from the Sustainability Program and Lucy HG Solomon, a faculty fellow of Center ARTES, to create a unique program that joins mentorship, creative artmaking, sustainability and climate justice.
“Sustainability and climate action are not the responsibility of just one discipline,” said Goodlaw-Morris, the director of Sustainability and Climate Justice and co-director of the Climate Action and Sustainability Center. “The Planet Mentorship Program creates co-curricular opportunities for students from all majors to explore environmental and justice issues through the lens of their own interests and career goals, building critical thinking, communication and leadership skills that prepare them to make a meaningful impact in any profession.”
CSUSM alumna Aidelen Montoya, who went through the initial pilot program and earned her master’s from the University at Buffalo, now is a program coordinator for the program in addition to working part time for Center Artes while also working for the Mingei International Museum.
The program is a three-semester paid opportunity to empower students to create meaningful art about the issues they care about, and in the process empower participating students to become changemakers for the planet. The articulate, creative visions expressed by participating students reveal the transformative potential of the program.
“The Planet Mentorship program gave me a new experience taking the arts and research and trying to advocate around climate change,” said Milan McLaurin, a liberal arts major and dance minor. “I never had that opportunity to show my interest in the environment through dance. Through data and art, getting in depth into my topic and developing a visual aspect, I created a new way of showing how climate change is happening.”
“Through this project I was able to connect art with storytelling through the data,” added Destiny Kirchner, an environmental studies student with a minor in art. “The beach is eroding so quickly, it is scary. I grew up watching the coastal erosion happen firsthand, and I wanted to explore how this environmental change can be communicated through art.”
The collection of art is on display at the Data Stacks on the fourth floor of Kellogg Library. Visit any time during library hours to see the students’ artistic meditations on climate and justice.
“The art is an extension of myself,” said Lucas Garcia, an environmental studies student. “It expresses my concern for the environment. This process was a reminder of why I want to become an environmental educator – to try to incite change on a personal level.”
This program is entirely funded by donors.
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