In 2006 city officials in Waterville formed a committee to look at the city’s energy use and carbon emissions in hope of making municipal operations more environmentally friendly. But, when community members started to get involved, it became clear there was an appetite for greening initiatives beyond the scope of city services. An anonymous donor from town put up money to help dip into a deep local resource, Colby’s Environmental Studies Program, which offered a ready pool of qualified interns.

The result? Organizers say it's a unique, cooperative town-gown initiative.

In the words of Steve Erario '10, the original intern and a key organizer: "No one else in Maine is approaching [sustainability] in a strategic way like we are."

Since Erario's initial internship with the City of Waterville in summer 2007, an organization named Sustain Mid-Maine formed, with five committees that are working on energy, transportation, local foods, education, and waste and recycling in Waterville and surrounding communities. In 2009 Sustain Mid-Maine employed five summer interns: three Colby students and two from Unity College.

According to Waterville City Manager Michael Roy '74, "There have been benefits to the community in a number of different ways." Not least among them, he said, are the youthful and informed perspectives that students have brought to deliberations around tables populated by volunteers often a generation or more older.

Among other tasks, the Colby students have compiled baseline data on Waterville's energy use and its carbon emissions, mapped area trails with GPS, run a composting workshop and a Green Living Expo, helped launch community garden plots, published how-to brochures, and applied for grants.

After spending three summers working with Erario and other students, Roy said, "They are very organized, very mature, and they communicate very well."

The effort started to resolve into focus in January 2009 with a three-day workshop at which the five priorities were identified and steering committees formed. This summer Colby provided office space in the Olin Science Center for five interns who worked with community volunteers on each of the initiatives.

Erin Maurer '11 worked primarily on local foods and was instrumental in setting up the pilot site for community raised-bed garden plots, across from the Thayer campus of MaineGeneral Medical Center on North Street. While Maurer came to Colby for the strong Environmental Science Program and has a "passion for agriculture," she said, "It's been very cool learning about how Sustain Mid-Maine got organized."

And several interns recognized that organization and structure are critical to sustaining Sustain Mid-Maine.

Andrew Young '09, who applied advanced GIS skills to transportation issues and produced a brochure on recycling options, formed an important bond with the community, though it came after his graduation and just before he left Waterville for a master's program in chemistry at UNH. Wishing he'd begun earlier, he said, "One of my greatest fears is leaving and having the project fall apart. In the back of our minds is giving the next person what they need to succeed."

Jamie Nemecek, a rising sophomore at Unity, said she got sucked into the community involvement at a more propitious point in her undergraduate career. She is already committed to helping the education committee for another year.

The senior member of the Sustain Mid-Maine intern corps, Erario brought exhibits a technical expertise that formed the basis of Waterville's energy-use and carbon-emissions audits. Erario also took on strategic planning, community needs assessments, raising public awareness, kept volunteers engaged, and is trying to ensure that efforts continue after he graduates.

As with most civic engagement initiatives involving Colby students, it's a win-win situation for the interns and the city, organizers say. Students revel in being able to synthesize what they have learned and apply it to a real project. And, from the city's end, "They were a huge help," said City Administrator Roy.

Equally important, though, is the basic person-to-person interaction. "Knowing people is half the battle," Erario said. "I've met hundreds and hundreds of people, and despite the stereotypes they may have held about Colby, they're always willing to talk and share ideas. That's very, very valuable to me."

"It's really nice to make these connections," Maurer said. "There was a police officer at the grand opening [of the community garden] who said he'd really like to have a plot."

Given tension that has surrounded some previous police/student interactions, that's a discussion that breaks down stereotypes on both ends.

For more information on Mid-Maine Sustainability Coalition, watch insideColby video 29: A New Maine Vision.