First year of Student Switch Off in Sweden comes to an end
Article by Agneta Mattiasson (dorm coordinator, Sweden)
With a second term of Student Switch Off having come to an end we can glimpse back at a second competition, with more participants and more engagaed students. We can also acknowledge that the first year of Student Switch Off in Sweden has been successful.
However, we have seen that we are competing with many different actors for the students interest, time and engagement, both in social media and elsewhere. This makes it crucial for us to contionusly evaluate what we are doing and how we do it, to reach as many students as possible and to make them engage in the campaign.
In the spring competition, similarly to autumn we had many international students engaging in the competition; both students within the EU and outside the EU. We find this very exciting as different nationalities have different perspectives on energy and energy saving as well as different experiences. We believe that this has a positive impact on the campaign as they can then influence each other by sharing experiences and perspectives.
To celebrate the end of this spring’s competitions and to celebrate the winners, both in Stockholm and Gothenburg, we had two outdoor parties in mid May. The Stockholm party celebrated winners from the three participating student areas of the city, and included a smoothie bike, where the students got to peddle to make their own smoothie and see how much energy was needed for an activity that normally is driven by electricity. This was very much appreciated and many students enjoyed a smoothie done by their own physical activity. Smergy, an energy efficiency project run by The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC or Naturskyddsföreningen as called in Swedish) was a cohost for this evening. They brought the smoothie bike and got the students engaged in a climate quiz walk, which had many participants.
Student Switch Off celebrated the many winners, students fromthe first place together with second, third and runner ups received a diploma for their engagement and bags full of organic food as prizes.
In Gothenburg, we were surprised with one of the many rainy days this spring had to offer, which unfortunately meant that many students stayed indoors. However we had a bunch of students coming to the party for snacks and a climate quiz. The winning students were very excited about their final place in the competition and very happy with their prizes.
