the engager
KAYLA
SANTOSUOSS For CAS senior Kayla Santosuosso, fulfilling her responsibility to protect the environment doesn’t just mean composting, recycling and turning off the lights. It means working every day toward putting environmental justice into action at NYU and the surrounding community. As the Program Assistant for Outreach and Engagement in the NYU Office of Sustainability, Santosuosso has worked to create a campus community built around sustainability, connecting like-minded students and clubs with one another. “If there’s a sustainability project or environmentalistrelated project on campus, I probably know about it, and chances are I might even have my hand in it in some way,” Santosuosso said. As a Middle Eastern studies major, Santosuosso said she never thought she would be so invested in environmental work, especially since her academic interests are so drastically different. But she said all of her work relates back to building community, personal relationships and a sense of urgency around environmental issues. One of her current projects is the Sustainable Peer Representatives Program — a social network of students living in NYU residence halls who want to foster a green community and fight for social justice alongside other students. Still in its planning stages, the program will help the NYU sustainability office reach more students than ever before. Santosuosso is also the force behind the upcoming
launch of the NYU Student Food Cooperative. The group, which will be run by students to serve other students, will serve locally sourced and organically prepared food on campus. “[The NYU student food co-op is] one of the most inspiring projects I’ve ever been a part of, I think, at this point,” Santosuosso said. “I kind of want to leave something behind and say that this is what my work led to and this is what helps create community on campus.” Santosuosso said that the co-op will start off as a mobile food cart next spring and will hopefully be given a permanent location on campus in the near future. She hopes that a permanent space will foster campus sustainability by not only providing local and organic food but also by giving students a space to talk about environmental issues to continue the green movement on campus. The group is currently among the finalists to receive a Green Grant from the university to use toward their project. Santosuosso’s sustainability initiatives go well beyond the borders of NYU. She is a board member of CoFed, a national student co-operative organization, and she is the head of sustainable sourcing at the Buschick Co-op. As Santosuosso searched for food that met the co-op’s environmental standards, she gained a new understanding of what being a part of a community was all about. Since then, she has been fully committed to community-based enterprises.
And eventually she hopes to move beyond her current borders, one day working in the Palestinian territories and focusing on either food access issues or establishing community-supported agriculture programs. Currently, she is working as a development intern for the Arab American Association of New York and a member of NYU Students for Justice in Palestine. Santosuosso advocates for Palestinian statehood and influences how others perceive Arab-Americans in the United States. “In working with a community that deeply, I’ve just become more and more attached to trying to make sure there is a fair and just representation of [the Arab-American] community in New York City and elsewhere,” Santosuosso said. Until then, Santosuosso wants to stay in Brooklyn after graduation and start a sustainable catering business for the film industry. This idea will hopefully fill a gap in New York City’s film industry, which has limited access to sustainable catering, Santosuosso said. Sanuosuosso said she is in a constant struggle to find time for herself while bearing the responsibility to foster a culture of sustainability at NYU and in the surrounding community. “I don’t think that someone selected me to be responsible for these things,” she said. “It’s just that I don’t know how to not be responsible for it. I don’t understand how to not be completely engaged, for better or for worse.” — Elizabeth Gyori