Are you a student or teacher and interested in the idea of Cascadia? If so, there are many different and easy ways to get involved, empower your community and help us raise awareness about Cascadia and CascadiaNow!
Students, at all levels, form the backbone of CascadiaNow!, helping to maintain the grassroots nature of our organization, and keep issues focused on what is important in our communities around the Pacific Northwest. While clubs can be sporadic, challenging to start and maintain, they can also have incredible benefits, gaining easy access to free resources, materials, and building spaces. Already, we've had quite a bit of success with student groups at University of Oregon, Portland State University, Evergreen University, Central Washington University, University of Washington and Seattle University.
In addition, support from faculty and graduate students play a key role, continuing to do research that provides a strong understanding of the geographic and cultural realities that create the idea of Cascadia as a regional identity, not in a future abstract sense, but also in the here and now. Starting with SU sociology professor David McCloskey who is credited with defining the Cascadia bioregion in the 1970's, and continuing today with PSU professor Ethan Seltzer who teaches the post-graduate course 'Ecolopolis', Matthew Sparke who sponsors the Decolonizing Cascadia geography mini-conference each year, and many others, academics continue to provide support, research and direction that continue to help facilitate new and exciting realities around our emerging regionalism.
In addition, as a 501(c)3 organization, students can receive academic credit for their time, internships, or research projects that they do. Don't hesitate to reach out to us if you have a way you'd like to be involved! In addition, we're always excited to answer questions from teachers and professors, and can help with reading material, existing bioregional programs, or curriculum creation.
Immediate Benefits of a Student Club:
- Free printing, posters and banner materials. Registered Student Organizations almost always have access to either a certain number, or unlimited amount of printing. This is a great opportunity to create a print informational flyers, posters, pamphlets and zines. In addition, schools and universities provide spaces to put up club posters and flyers for events and to advertise meeting times. With a student club, you can easily and cheaply organize postering or wheatpasting campaigns, or set up a Cascadia information table. In addition, most schools have button makers and materials and discounts to produce large, high quality banners.
- Access to School Space. Host a gathering, an event, a reading club, a discussion, dialogue or potluck! With a student group, it's easy to reserve spaces and classrooms for whatever size event you need.
- Easy to Raise Awareness. Starting from the first week of school, there are almost always fairs and student tabling opportunities around campus. Reserve a table and help spread awareness, or give a presentation to your class. If you ever need help, just give us a poke, we're always here to chat and provide what insight or help how we can.
- Contact out Outreach Manager Andrew Schlosser to get free swag, to talk about easy ways to be involved, awesome ideas for raising awareness in your community, and ways to give presentations on Cascadia. Right now we are putting together both a presentation kit, a tabling kit, and finalizing our resources we want to provide with all our cultural ambassadors who want to help us raise awareness and celebrate this wonderful place we call Cascadia.