{"id":21582,"date":"2026-08-12T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/sustainability\/?p=21582"},"modified":"2026-07-24T13:59:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T12:59:34","slug":"my-experience-in-the-sgo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.canterbury.ac.uk\/sustainability\/my-experience-in-the-sgo\/","title":{"rendered":"My experience in the SGO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I still remember the day I was interviewed to become a Student Green Officer. I was in China at the time, and my internet connection was not exactly on my side. For most of the interview, Bethany and John appeared frozen on my screen, and I imagine I probably looked frozen on theirs too. It was one of those slightly chaotic online moments where you are trying to look calm and professional while secretly hoping the Wi-Fi does not give up completely. So, when I later received the offer, I was genuinely surprised, excited, and very grateful. I did not know it then, but that slightly glitchy interview would become the beginning of a very meaningful journey with the Student Green Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image description: Huiwen in a park surrounded by rows of trees<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before joining the SGO, I knew sustainability was important, but my understanding of it was quite general. I saw the word in many places: on posters, in the library, on shelves displaying books about the environment, and on the packaging of things I bought. I knew it mattered, but I had not yet thought deeply about how sustainability connects to so many parts of everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working in the SGO changed that. Sustainability became much more than a word I saw around campus. I began to understand it through fashion, education, food, wildlife, people, equality, and community. It also changed the way I noticed small things in everyday life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One example was the bat conservation pop-up stand we held. Before that, I had always thought of bats as slightly scary animals, especially because of the way they were often talked about during COVID-19. But while preparing and taking part in the activity, I started to see them differently. I learned that bats are not just mysterious creatures flying around at night; they are important for ecosystems, helping with things like pollination, seed dispersal, and insect control. Most importantly, for me, bats can eat up to 1,200 mosquitoes an hour. I mean, I don\u2019t know why, but mosquitoes always eat me no matter whom I am with. That activity helped me realise that sustainability is not only about protecting animals we already find beautiful or loveable. It is also about questioning our first reactions, learning more, and becoming more careful in how we judge the natural world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image description: Huiwen and a group of students at a pop-up.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The SGO also made me more aware of sustainability in ordinary situations. When I was travelling in another country, a waiter placed the menu underneath the food we had ordered. When I tried to return the menu, the waiter told me it was disposable. I remember immediately thinking, \u201cWait, that is not very sustainable.\u201d Before joining the SGO, I probably would not have noticed it at all. But after this experience, these small details started to stand out to me more naturally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also became more interested in reusing old things. At one point, I had an idea to make a short video showing how I reused items instead of throwing them away. Although I did not manage to carry out the project in the end, the idea still changed my habits. I started to realise that reusing things is not only better for the environment, but also practical, creative, and surprisingly money-saving. For example, I started keeping glass jars from pasta sauce and using them to store tea, rice, or pens instead of buying storage containers. Sustainability began to feel less like a distant concept and more like a series of small choices I could make in daily life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the best things about working in the SGO is that you are encouraged to follow your own ideas. Yes, you heard me right. You are paid for what you want to do. When I told my friends about this part of the role, many of them reacted with surprise and asked, half-jokingly, \u201cWhat kind of dream job is this?\u201d And in many ways, it did feel like that. You are not simply given tasks to complete. You are given space to think, create, test things, and sometimes realise that an idea is much harder to put into practice than it first seemed. At the beginning, I had many big ideas. One of them was to create a map of sustainable restaurants in Canterbury. In my head, it sounded exciting and useful. In reality, I quickly realised that turning a big idea into a real project involves a lot more planning, research, communication, and problem-solving than I expected. That was one of my biggest lessons from the year: ideas are important, but making them happen is another skill entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Bethany and John\u2019s support, and with encouragement from the team, I gradually learned how to start smaller and build from there. One activity I really enjoyed was the Women\u2019s Achievements pop-up stand. The idea was simple: participants matched women\u2019s pictures with the correct years and achievements. But the response was lovely. Forty-seven people took part, and many seemed genuinely engaged and happy to learn something new. It gave me a real sense of achievement, not because the activity was huge, but because it created a small moment of learning and connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image description: a whiteboard with the International Women’s Month bingo board<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I also had the chance to bring my own educational background into my SGO work. As someone who has worked in teaching and learning, I wanted to create interactive materials that could make sustainability feel more accessible and enjoyable. I designed two short interactive courses: 5 Days to Become an Earth Hero<\/em> and Wildlife on Campus<\/em>. These projects allowed me to combine sustainability with education, digital learning, and creativity. They also reminded me that sustainability education does not always have to feel heavy or frightening. Sometimes, it can begin with curiosity, small actions, and a sense of play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alongside these projects, I created videos and posters, and my Canva skills definitely improved along the way. More importantly, I discovered that I was more creative than I had previously realised. Before this role, I did not know that I could think quite carefully about how to make a message more engaging, not just informative. For example, when I made a vlog about the Climate Escape Room, I did not simply record what happened. I tried to build it like a small story. I started with a hook, where someone asked me why I looked so happy, and then I used that moment to introduce the escape room. I even added a spaceship effect to make the video feel more playful and dramatic, before showing clips of everyone trying to solve the puzzles and \u201cescape\u201d. Through the video, I wanted to show not only what we did, but also how exciting and immersive the experience felt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That made me realise how much communication matters in sustainability work. A message needs to be accurate, but it also needs to be inviting. It needs to make people stop, look, smile, think, and perhaps take one small action. Sometimes, the difference between people ignoring a message and engaging with it is not the importance of the topic, but the way the story is told.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of my favourite memories are from the activities I joined throughout the year. The Climate Escape Room showed me that environmental education can be genuinely fun and creative. Carbon Literacy Training helped me understand more clearly how everyday choices connect to carbon emissions and climate action. Potter and Prune gave me the chance to learn about different plants and wildlife, and I still remember tasting the last raspberry on the branch and seeing white raspberries for the first time. The Sustainable Campus Tour also made me realise that our campus is full of small surprises. We actually have apples and pears to lemons and gooseberries on campus. These were small moments, but they stayed with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image description: a gooseberry found on campus<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another unforgettable experience was visiting Wildwood Trust. I learned so much about wildlife, survival skills, and our relationship with the natural world. I even tried fire lighting by friction, which was something I had never imagined myself doing before. I also saw a cup made from tree bark. It was such a simple object, but it made me think about how people in the past used natural materials with skill and respect. It made sustainability feel physical and real, not just something discussed in articles, meetings, or classrooms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image description: Huiwen trying to light a fire at Wildwood.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Looking back, I think the SGO gave me more than work experience. It gave me a different way of seeing. I learned that sustainability is not only about large-scale global problems, although those problems matter deeply. It is also about small conversations, creative projects, shared learning, and the confidence to try. It is about realising that even a small pop-up stand, a short interactive course, a poster, a workshop, or a conversation can become part of something bigger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am especially grateful to Bethany, John, and to my colleagues for their support. The SGO is a space where ideas are welcomed, mistakes are part of learning, and people genuinely want to help each other grow. For me, that has been one of the most valuable parts of the experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first applied, I did not know exactly what sustainability would mean to me. Now, I understand it as something much wider, warmer, and more connected than I had imagined. It is about the planet, but it is also about people. It is about knowledge, but also about care. It is about ambitious change, but also about the small things we do every day.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Huiwen Wang, SGO Projects Officer 2025-2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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