In 2024, the Center for Global Leadership partnered with the Clothes Bin organization to add a collection bin in our parking lot behind the Bascome Trexler building. The special benefit of this bin is that clothes and shoes can either be in good condition or can be worn, ripped, and stained because they sort it to either be donated to charity or repurposed as dog toys or industrial rags.
From September 2024 to January 2025, we have collected 497 bags totaling 6,631 pounds of materials. You can check out our Clothes Bin Dashboard for detailed collection data and read about what can be put in the bin on this flier.
The 2024 Global Citizen Scholar cohort chose to propose a composting practice to Notre Dame's leadership. With great support, the CGL has moved from an awareness campaign, including installing a preserved moss wall above the trash receptacles that reads "REDUCE" to remind our community that we should reduce what we add to our landfills. The number one way to do that is composting! We then partnered with Mother Compost, a company founded by alum Gwenn Nolan '01, to introduce composting to our Middle School students! They enthusiastically adopted the practice and we planned next steps to roll it out to the whole school in September of 2025. Since then, we have kept over 6,000 pounds of waste out of our landfills!
For the past four years we have run a culture and service travel program to New Orleans, started in partnership with our Campus Ministry. Serving locally is crucial to understanding and addressing the needs of our direct community and serving elsewhere in our country and the world helps for us to see the diversity of needs, cultural nuances, and resources lacking in various parts of our world. Since 2023, our service groups have worked with the volunteers at Common Ground Relief in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. This non-profit has been committed to working for environmental and disaster justice since 2005, after Hurricane Katrina. They restore the wetlands barrier through growing native plants in their nursery and planting them in the bayou. They also run a food pantry for those community members still struggling after the destruction of Katrina 20 years later.
Not only do we travel there and help in whatever ways they need, but we have run dress-down days on Earth Day in previous years, where all proceeds are donated to Common Ground Relief and the Center for Global Leadership also offers parents of travelers on all of our trips the option to offset the carbon footprint of their daughter's travel program and the money goes directly to the organization which is added thousands of plants and trees back to the environment each year. We will continue to partner with this small and wonderful organization as long as they'll have us! Feel free to donate to Common Ground Relief today!
The Environmental Club at Notre Dame focuses on turning sustainability into action both on campus and in the surrounding community. This year, the club is leading efforts toward a zero single-use plastic cafeteria, expanding campus composting that already diverts over 300 pounds of waste per week, and launching Irish Green for Good, a student-led initiative partnering with local businesses to reduce plastic packaging. Members also engage with global climate issues by following international discussions and related advocacy efforts, such as the UN COP30 conference. In addition, the club provides hands-on service opportunities through local conservation projects and park cleanups, as well as an upcoming spring collaboration with Lafayette College, where students will volunteer on the campus farm and learn about sustainable agriculture in the lead-up to Earth Day. Through these initiatives, the club aims to create measurable environmental impact in our community and beyond.
The Academy of Notre Dame is proud to announce that the Riley Center for STEM Education has achieved LEED Silver Certification under the LEED v4 Building Design and Construction rating system. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a globally recognized standard for sustainable, healthy, and innovative buildings.
The Riley Center serves as both an educational resource for students and a living example of environmental and social responsibility. Designed to reduce energy use, lower CO₂ emissions, and promote cleaner indoor air, the building supports healthier learning environments while advancing the Academy’s mission to inspire young women to inquire, explore, imagine, and innovate.
“This LEED designation testifies to Notre Dame’s deep commitment to protect and improve all aspects of the environment for the health and well-being of present and future generations,” shared Dr. Dwyer, Head of School.
LEED Certification is awarded by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI), which verifies that projects meet rigorous sustainability and performance standards.
Nora Moffat Director of Center for Global Leadership nmoffat@ndapa.org
610.687.0650, ext. 172
