My friend Kate and I think the Greenpeace Organizing Term is pretty rad; so much so, that we're currently working for it!  We're talking to students all across the country about the student activist training program that Greenpeace runs, and here's what Kate has to say about her awesome experience in the GOT:

Hello from San Francisco!

My name is Kaitlin Finneran, and I’m a student at the University of North Carolina—Greensboro.  In the fall of my sophomore year, I joined a brand-new environmental club on campus.  One day, a girl came in to talk about Greenpeace, so I checked out the website and found the page for the Greenpeace Organizing Term. I was in awe over the program description and applied right then!
 
When I was accepted into the program, I thought I would learn about environmental issues and work with Greenpeace for a bit. What I ended up getting out of it was so much more valuable: I now have the skills and the confidence to organize people around a cause, and I’ve learned how to pass those skills on to others. I also discovered the importance of collective effort, and that we must learn how to unite people in order to tackle the major problems that face the earth today.

My action-packed semester with the GOT included some awesome trips around the world, from getting community support in Tucson, Arizona, that successfully pressured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords to sign onto the Safe Climate Act, to joining a direct action in Hamburg, Germany, against the construction of new coal-fired power plants. And one of my favorite success stories was getting the University of California—Berkeley to kick Kleenex off of its campus… I even helped write the resolution that was passed by the university’s Student Senate!

The Greenpeace Organizing Term is literally an action-packed semester, and is basically the best hands-on training for student activists like you to become environmental leaders.  Kate and I are confident telling you this because the GOT is going to give you a lot more skills and experience than you would ever learn in a typical internship.  Think about it: When was the last time an environmental victory was won by fetching coffee for a guy in a suit?

The grassroots organizing and campaign skills that you'll learn from trained professionals will lay the foundation for you to succeed in future semesters as part of the Greenpeace Student Network, as well as the rest of your life and career.

Take a look at what some of the GOT alumni are doing now:

• Emily Russell-Roy (Fall '04 alum): Working for the Pacific Forest Trust on climate policy
• Zo Tobi (Fall '04 alum): Northeast Regional Organizer for the Sierra Student Coalition
• Andi Plocek (Spring '05 alum): Director of Marketing, Sky Fuel
• Rohini Banskota (Summer '05 alum): Working on making Colorado College climate neutral
• Kyle Saari (Spring '06 alum): Greenpeace field organizer
• Gabe Gerow (Spring '06 alum): Greenpeace Organizing Term coordinator
• Suzanne Graham (Summer '06 alum): Greenpeace field organizer
• Christine Irvine (Summer '06 alum): Youth Organizer, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy
• Christy Hartman (Fall '06 alum): Sierra Student Coalition Organizer in WV, OH and PA
• Whitney Kraner (Fall '06 alum): Arizona PIRG
• Georgia Hill (Fall '06): City Coordinator, Greenpeace Los Angeles Frontline program
• Christina Alexa-Liakos (Fall '06 alum): Board member, Greenpeace Student Network
• Audry Mills (Fall '07 alum): Board member, Greenpeace Student Network

Ready to make a change for yourself and the environment?

Apply now to be a part of the Greenpeace Organizing Term!

Your fellow activists,

Josef Palermo and Kate Finneran