The Appalachian Mountain Club is a leading organization in outdoor recreation, conservation and education. The Berkshire Chapter maintains trails, leads hiking, snowshoeing, kayaking and other trips. For information on volunteer and intern opportunities, see the volunteer page of the Berkshire Chapter’s website.
Science & Environment
Association for Women in Mathematics
Student Leaders: Amina Diop ([email protected])
Faculty/Staff Adviser: Eva Goedhart
We are the Williams College student chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM). The chapter was established in 2014 in response to the lack of existing structures or programming for women in math and the discrimination that went unnoticed both inside classrooms and out. We work on two levels: (1) we aim to provide a social space for members of underrepresented minorities in STEM who have felt uncomfortable in general math settings and (2) we work towards long-term structural changes that will make the Williams Math Department more inclusive.
Berkshire Humane Society
Berkshire Humane Society is a private, nonprofit, open-admission animal support organization with a twofold mission:
1. to ensure the compassionate care, treatment, and whenever possible, placement of homeless animals through the shelter operation, and
2. to promote and improve the welfare of all animals through community education and outreach
Additional Information & Current Opportunities:
learning-in-action.williams.edu/opportunities/berkshire-humane-society
Berkshire Natural Resources Council
Not-for-profit membership supported environmental advocacy group and land trust working throughout the Berkshires to preserve threatened lands. Volunteer/intern opportunities available in various capacities.
Berkshire Regional Planning Commission
Official area wide planning agency in the Berkshire Region with comprehensive planning responsibilities including economic development, environmental, transportation, regional, community and land-use planning and data and GIS services. Volunteers and interns welcome on various projects.
Black STEM Association
Student Leaders: Michelle Laker (mpl3) & Cynthia Masese (ckm2)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: Pamela Harris
The Black Science Technology Engineering and Math Student Association (BSTEM) aims to create a safe and supportive space in which Black and other underrepresented students are encouraged to continue their studies in STEM fields, and can freely speak of their experiences in these fields. This support system for underserved groups in STEM is essential to helping support these students interested in the sciences and combat the effects of the discrimination that they may experience while navigating STEM courses.
Break Out Trips
In 2013-2014, the Chaplains’ Office and Center for Learning in Action began coordinating funding and advising for Break Out Trips over spring break that involve projects in and beyond the Berkshires region. A general interest survey, detailed advice, guidelines, timetable, a Proposal Form, Budget Calculator, and additional resources are available at learning-in-action.williams.edu/opportunities/bot.
Canoe Meadows Wildlife Sanctuary
Mass Audubon sanctuary located one mile from the center of Pittsfield which attracts a variety of birds and includes 3 miles of trails. Programs offered through the Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary in Lenox.
Center for Ecological Technology
CET, a community based non-profit organization, has been working since 1976 to help individuals, businesses, schools and communities reduce our environmental impact. CET provides education and assistance in recycling, composting, using less toxic products, energy conservation, and renewable resources. Services include: Home energy surveys and weatherization in partnership with local utility companies; sales of energy efficient lighting, weatherization, water conservation products, and recycled paper. Home Heating Oil Co-op; ReStore Home Improvement Center in Springfield for affordable renovation materials; Office Paper Recycling and Document Destruction.
112 Elm Street
Pittsfield, MA 01201
413-445-4556
800-238-1221
Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm
http://www.cetonline.org/
[email protected]
Pittsfield, MA 01201
413-445-4556
800-238-1221
Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm
http://www.cetonline.org/
[email protected]
Circle of Women
Student Leaders: Ariana Romeo
Faculty/Staff Adviser: Magnus Bernhardsoon
Meeting Time/Place: Weekly on Sundays
Circle of Women (CoW) is a national nonprofit organization–run completely by students–that provides the necessary resources to girls around the world who are pursuing an education. As such, our focus is primarily abroad. The organization partners up with local groups to implement construction projects and each school/college chapter fundraises to make such projects possible. The Williams chapter is responsible for CoW’s most recent project, which is a girls’ higher secondary school in Jabergali, Pakistan.
CLiA Community Outreach Associate
Help CLiA build community engagement at Williams by serving as one of our academic year Outreach Associates. Outreach Associates work on event and program organization, preparation and promotion. They also help with program logistics, reflection and revision in an area or on an issue of special interest.
Additional Information & Application:
learning-in-action.williams.edu/opportunities/clia-community-outreach-associate/
CLiA Community Outreach Summer Fellowship
This paid summer program trains a small team of Williams students to help build better community service and experiential learning opportunities at Williams. The selected rising Sophomores and Juniors are initially oriented to the Berkshires and trained in key skill areas before spending the balance of their time immersed and leading others in community engagement work. This 8-week, 35-hour/week position reports to the CLiA Director.
Additional Information & Application:
learning-in-action.williams.edu/opportunities/community-outreach-summer-fellowship
CLiA Office Assistant
The Center for Learning in Action hires students to assist in various aspects of our office and program operations during the academic year.
Additional Information & Application:
http://learning-in-action.williams.edu/opportunities/clia-office-assistant
Dinnertime
Student Leaders: Emmie Hine ([email protected])
Faculty/Staff Adviser: Paula Consolini
Meeting Time/Place: Thursday evenings in Paresky
Once a month, Dinnertime gathers and cooks dinner together for anyone who wants to come. Every dinner has a theme (past themes include Terrific Tubers, Pi Day, and Green Foods) and is vegetarian. Everyone is welcome to come cook, eat, and chat!
Divest Williams
Student Leaders: Isabelle Furman ([email protected])
Faculty/Staff Adviser: Shanti Singham
Meeting Time/Place: Wednesdays 9 PM in Zilkha Center
Divest Williams seeks to build and foster a movement around divestment of the college’s endowment from fossil fuels; in this work, we aim also to undermine the entire extractive economy. Through this work, we strive to educate the community and challenge people to think more deeply about both their own and Williams’s place in social movements. We hope to develop a deeper understanding of systems of power and oppression and the points at which these systems are vulnerable. We understand the fight for climate justice to be inextricably linked to the fight for racial justice, economic justice, LGBTQIA justice; to the fight to end colonialism and imperialism and dismantle the patriarchy; to end ableism, transphobia, heterosexism, and all other forms of oppression. Therefore Divest Williams stands with all other groups fighting for social justice and climate justice on campus and beyond.
Education Outreach
For 20+ years, Williams has partnered with our local educators to create hands-on programming that serve the needs of the children and their families in a host of Berkshire County schools in the areas of science, writing, mentoring, homework help and more. Currently, more than 350 students participate and serve in K-12 schools in paid and volunteer positions in Williamstown, Lanesborough, North Adams and Pittsfield. We welcome your involvement and ideas, and look forward to hearing from you! Please visit the Education Outreach section of our website for more information.
Give It Up!
Students collect clothing, books, & other items from fellow students at year’s end. Donations of appliances, household goods and clothing are sold in the annual Giant Tag Sale at First Congregational Church and the ABC (A Better Community) Clothing Sale in September. Proceeds from these sales typically exceed $50,000 and benefit local charitable organizations and initiatives such as the Barrington Stage Company Playwright Mentoring Program, Berkshire Immigrant Center, Community Legal Aid, Elizabeth Freeman Center, Friendship Center Food Pantry, Louison House, Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity, Northern Berkshire YMCA and ROOTS Teen Center. Donated food, personal care products and cleaning supplies are brought to the Williamstown Food Pantry.
Donated books are collected and organized at St. John’s Episcopal Church, then bought back by the Williams Bookstore or shipped to Better World Books. Proceeds from the sale of donated books benefit Nyanam Widows Rising, a project founded by Williams students to support widows in Kenya in reaching their goals through a focus on personal development, social change, and justice. Books that cannot be sold are recycled or repurposed by Better World Books, and as of the end of the 2021 campaign, have resulted in the following environmental impact metrics:
- Over 23,000 books (~32,000 lbs)
- Nearly 400 trees
- Over 50,000 lbs of methane and greenhouse gas
- Over 235,000 gallons of water
- 51 cubic yards of landfill space
- Over 75,000 kWh of electricity
Additional Information & Opportunities:
Great Ideas Committee
Student Leaders: Luke Baumann ([email protected])
Meeting Time/Place: College Council Suite, time according to members’ schedule
The Great Ideas Committee solicits ideas from the community to improve student life at Williams. These ideas can be conveniences (such as installing water fountains or buying chargers for the library), policy changes, improved communication systems, or anything else, though the scope of the projects is generally smaller than the larger policy questions debated by College Council or faculty committees. We draw from the CC Projects fund.
Harrison Morgan Brown Pre-Health Society
Student Leaders: Donglin Zhang
Faculty/Staff Adviser: Barbara Fuller
Meeting Time/Place: Tuesday evenings, Paresky
1. Organizes activities, trips, and events that will help Williams students to cultivate their passion for medicine. 2. Consolidates sources of information about the field of health care, including speakers and health care professionals, to help Williams students make well-informed decisions about preparing and pursuing a career in medicine. 3. Serves as a liaison between the Health Professions Advisor and the various pre-health students of Williams College.
Hoosic River Revival Summer Internship
The Hoosic River Revival (HRR) is looking for students to conduct research and assist with public programs, and help produce a short film. The HRR is a community-based, nonprofit organization with a mission to reconnect the North Adams community to a clean, beautiful, and safe Hoosic River and to enhance the river’s recreational, cultural and economic vitality. For complete details, visit learning-in-action.williams.edu/opportunities/hoosic-river-revival-summer-internship/.
Hoosic River Watershed Association
A non-profit organization dedicated to the restoration, conservation and enjoyment of the Hoosic River and its watershed through education, research and advocacy. To find out more about volunteer and intern opportunities including the volunteer-based water quality monitoring program and the annual Riverfest celebration, contact HooRWA.
Housatonic River Initiative
A non-profit coalition of Berkshire County residents working to restore the Housatonic River and its floodplain as a major community asset, a river safe to fish and swim. HRI’s work includes a) advocating for timely and comprehensive PCB cleanup, b) educating County residents, young and old, about the river, its ecological science, contamination and cleanup, and c) partnering with others to rid the River of garbage by cleaning it and the floodplain.
Housatonic Valley Association
HVA works to conserve the natural character and environmental health of our communities in the Housatonic River watershed by restoring and protecting our lands and waters for this and future generations.
Lehman Community Engagement
Student Leaders: Allison Li (awl4) & Eva Castagna (ecc4)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: Paula Consolini
Lehman serves to promote, foster, and maintain a spirit of service on campus by organizing and supporting many different community-oriented service projects. Our biggest projects are our Fall and Spring Great Days of Service which engage the wider campus in many projects. We also host other smaller ongoing and pop-up projects including Winter Study Service Week, meal and clothing donations drives, and volunteering at local schools, senior homes, homeless shelters, hospitals, and farms.
Mass Appalachian Trail Management Committee of the Berkshires (AT Committee)
Mission and programming focused on protection and preservation of the Appalachian Trail and Trail corridor lands in Massachusetts through scheduled work parties during the field season and collaboration with relevant State and Federal Agencies on matters of land protection and preservation.
Local contact: Cosmo Catalano
Math Riddles
Many students find math dry in high school and junior high school. The purpose of the webpage is to help students and teachers see that math can be fun, interesting and applicable.
In addition to the riddles, there is a student/teacher corner where detailed explanations are given, not just of how to solve the problem, but how to try to attack it. In particular, often promising approaches that don’t pan out are discussed. The purpose is to help students and teachers learn how to approach new problems.
Additional Information & Current Opportunities:
Medical Brigades of Williams
Student Leaders: Anabella Cheong (ac33) & Iulia Stanciu (is9)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: Rebecca Counter
The Medical Brigades of Williams prepares members to volunteer and shadow doctors in outpatient clinical settings. We work with clinics set up in Honduras, Ghana, Panama, Greece, and Guatemala where local communities struggle to gain access to reliable, permanent healthcare. Our organization plans to raise the funds necessary for students to travel to these destinations and work directly with medical professionals to help establish clinics that are lasting and eventually run by locals.
Moo-Mami
Student Leaders: Carson Kurtz ([email protected])
Faculty/Staff Adviser: Caroline Bruno
Meeting Time/Place: Friday evening, Zilkha Center kitchen
The two overarching goals of the organization are to teach members of the community useful cooking techniques and immerse them in the process of raising money for charity. We hope that through our organization participants will learn and become comfortable with a variety of cooking techniques, thereby acquiring a valuable life skill that students ordinarily are not exposed to in the academic classroom. Through the culinary lessons and time allotted to practice, we hope to build and foster a sense of community around food. Another element of the club consists of familiarizing and raising awareness about various social and medical issues around the world.
OURSTEM+
Student Leaders: Bishoy Yacoub (by1) & Curtis Liu (csl1)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: Pamela Harris
OURSTEM+ was founded to promote sexual, gender, and racial minority representation within the STEM+ fields, which includes subjects like Economics and Psychology. OURSTEM+ works towards this goal by hosting events (like movie nights, faculty dinners, and informational seminars) that provide forums for those in the STEM+ fields to come together and build a network of support within Williams College for minority students in STEM.
Purple Bike Coalition
Student Leaders: Karol Regula (kpr2) & Hannah Jackson (hhj1)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: Sarah Gardner
We are a free bike repair and rental service serving Williams College students, faculty, and staff. Our goal is to make finding sustainable transportation and experiencing the joys of biking friendly, easy, and accessible.
Sheffield Land Trust
Non-profit member organization, established in 1989, dedicated to protecting the land essential to Sheffield’s natural, scenic, agricultural, and rural character through a program of stewardship and by working with landowners, farmers and other partners. Welcomes volunteers in a variety of capacities.
P.O. Box 940
404 Legeyt Road
Sheffield, MA 01257
413-229-0234
www.sheffieldland.org
[email protected]
404 Legeyt Road
Sheffield, MA 01257
413-229-0234
www.sheffieldland.org
[email protected]
Sweet Water Trust (Berkshire Office)
A grantmaking foundation funding conservation projects that safeguard wild land, wild water, native wildlife and living soils in the northern Appalachian region.
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy’s mission is to preserve plants, animals and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. The organization employs a strategic, science based process called “Conservation by Design” to identify the highest priority places — landscapes and seascapes — that, if conserved, promise to ensure biodiversity over the long term.
The Orion Society
The Orion Society’s programs and publications seek to inform, inspire and engage individuals and grass roots organizations to become a significant cultural force for healing nature and community. Orion’s work includes Orion Magazine, books, workshops, seminars and the Orion Grassroots Network, a fast growing association of environmental and community organizations. The Society welcomes volunteers in a variety of capacities.
The Trustees of Reservations
Member supported non-profit conservation organization that preserves various property for public use and enjoyment. Field Farm is a 300 acre property managed by the Trustees. Will Garrison, Historic Resources Manager at Field Farm, welcomes volunteer help, particularly with tours of the farm.
Field Farm
565 Sloan Road
Williamstown, MA 01267
413-458-3144
www.thetrustees.org
[email protected]
Will Garrison
565 Sloan Road
Williamstown, MA 01267
413-458-3144
www.thetrustees.org
[email protected]
Will Garrison
The Wilderness Society
The Wilderness Society‘s mission is to protect wilderness and inspire Americans to care for our wild places. We contribute to better protection, stewardship and restoration of our public lands, preserving our rich natural legacy for current and future generations.
Additional Information & Current Opportunities:
learning-in-action.williams.edu/opportunities/the-wilderness-society/
thinkFOOD
Student Leaders: Nicholas Gardner ([email protected])
Faculty/Staff Adviser: Mike Evans
Meeting Time/Place: Tuesdays 8 PM in Zilkha Center
At Williams, members of thinkFOOD work in student groups and dining committees to make the food Williams eats more environmentally and socially sustainable. We’ve worked with our primary food purveyors and worked to write Williams Dining’s sustainable and responsible purchasing expectations for those purveyors. We’ve also participated in local farm visits with the Zilkha Center and hosted community meals.
Thursday Night Grassroots
Thursday Night Grassroots was formed to create an outlet for direct student action in the face of global environmental catastrophe and immense social inequality. The group strives to highlight and actively address these issues within the context of our community, our state, and our nation. The group believes that Williams students are among a small percentage of privileged people globally and that with that privilege comes a responsibility to take action against all forms of injustice. The group also believes that the greatest threat to peace and stability in our world today is that of climate change, and chooses to particularly address this threat to global social justice. They seek to illustrate the fundamental and undeniable connections between environmental impacts and their consequences on our society’s ability to be truly just. The group directs its greatest effort towards building a movement to put our school, state, and nation on a path towards environmental sustainability.
Williams Environmental Council
Student Leaders: Robin Henrikson (rmh7) & Tina Zheng (tz8)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: Sarah Gardner
The Williams Environmental Council focuses on environmental activism and awareness in the Williams community through through events and campaigns which target specific environmental issues we face on campus and beyond. We work to educate and encourage the campus and student body to be more environmentally friendly and conscious.
Williams Outing Club
Student Leaders: Charlotte Jones (cgj1) & Sam Holmes (sch4)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: Scott Lewis
The Williams Outing Club (WOC), through the efforts of its volunteer student leadership and Faculty Director, stimulates participation in and appreciation for outdoor activities. WOC will further an ideal of college education, develop personal initiative and leadership, promote skills in outdoor recreation, educate itself and the college communities about environmental conservation, seek new opportunities for outreach, and encourage the meeting of people of common interests.
Williams Sustainable Growers
Student Leader: Lydia Von Schwanenfluegel (lv5) & Darren Wang (ddw1)
Faculty/Staff Advisor: Sarah Gardner
The Williams Sustainable Growers (WSG) promote awareness of and access to sustainable food and agriculture. The group plans and manages two organic gardens on campus: the Parsons Garden on Dodd Circle and the Gardens directly outside of the ‘66 Center. Anyone is welcome to attend weekend work parties during the growing season from approximately March through December. In addition to maintaining the gardens, WSG works collaboratively with Dining Services and other campus groups to promote sustainable food and agriculture through education and advocacy.
Williamstown Rural Lands
Non-profit member supported land trust working with the community to preserve and protect the rural New England character and unique landscapes of Williamstown. WRL welcomes volunteer and intern help in many capacities, including special projects which students might propose such as habitat creation.
671 Cold Spring Road
Williamstown, MA 01267
413-458-2494
Williamstown, MA 01267
413-458-2494
Winter Blitz
Faculty/Staff Adviser: Amy Johns ([email protected])
A one-day fall program weatherizing low income homes in Berkshire County run through the Zilkha Center for Environmental Initiatives. Students train and then work with faculty, staff and community volunteers preparing area homes for the winter.
Megamenu Social