Zachary Eichholz
Florida Institute of Technology
Zachary Eichholz is a student leader was a passion for sustainability and he shines in is his commitment to Florida Tech through his many leadership accomplishments. He has served as a Resident Assistant and Resident Director to the university's Residence Life Office, initiated a residence hall energy conservation challenge, and spearheaded the founding of Florida Tech's first community garden. This garden has gone on to inspire two other sister gardens in our local community of Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach built in its image and with student collaboration. His other co-curricular activities include but are not limited to being a member of the Students for Sustainability Action Club, working as a student liaison between Florida Tech and the City of Satellite Beach on multiple sustainability-based projects, and publishing a series environmental fiction works to increase public understanding of environmental issues.
Personal Statement
A future based around sustainability and resiliency starts in the present. As president of the Residence Life Sustainability Committee (RLSC) I wanted to ensure that sustainability-based education and practices would expand across Florida Tech and out into the local community. This started with my work on designing and implementing the Ethos Community Garden, Florida Tech's first. Through the RLSC I helped to push its concept and design to the City of Satellite Beach where a sister garden in Ethos's image was built. Soon, a third sister garden will rise in Cocoa Beach. I have built collaboration and exchange between our student committee members and several different local governments, lobbying for better environmental legislation, at cities that include Satellite Beach, Melbourne, and Palm Bay. I have also helped to champion campus initiatives such as a residence hall energy conservation challenge, the installation of cigarette butt recycling receptacles, and a sustainability-based living learning community. To further vital eco-education and public understanding of climate change I recently self-published a climate fiction novel based around explaining the science of climate change and its many effects to the masses called, The End of the Beginning.
