For Penn Dining, going green involves more than just removing trays.
The next green initiative: local food marketing interns.
This semester, Penn Dining is seeking students to continue the work of previous interns, with sustainability in mind.
The job involves a variety of tasks, ranging from promoting special events to updating the Penn Dining Web site.
These interns will also be involved with daily operations, earning 10 dollars an hour for 10 hours a week.
"We love to work with students," said Director of Penn Dining Laurie Cousart. "It's always good to have members of the customer base you're marketing to working with you."
The interns will function as liaisons between the Marketing Manager and Penn's student body.
According to the job description, the position "encourages the knowledge of sustainability" in order to fashion marketing strategies and promote dining's environmentally-friendly initiatives.
College junior Shauna O'Donnell, who served as an intern this past semester, said it was a "positive experience."
As the co-leader of FarmEcology, a student organization that promotes locally-grown food for dining halls, O'Donnell was involved with the decision to get cage-free eggs this past semester.
"It's a step forward in the right direction to getting more sustainable food," she said.
This year, she said she wants to persuade Aramark, Penn's dining food service provider, to order more local and healthy foods.
O'Donnell also hopes to increase awareness among the student body.
"It's important to show people where the food that they are putting into their mouth came from," she said.
O'Donnell is not the only Penn student interested in food as a means to save the environment - others have expressed interest in the Penn Dining internship.
College freshman Ayasha Guerin, who is an active member in Penn Environmental Group, said that she finds the internship appealing.
"It's not a question of 'why care?' anymore - we have to care, and we have to act," Guerin said. "Investing in alternative energies and a healthy planet is the only way we can sustain the standard of living we have come to depend on."
