Baseline Assessment of Extension Program on Developing Student Awareness

Many hospitality establishments have beengoing green with the aim of conserving and protectingthe environment and having new people who aresustainably conscious and aware has become of greatsignificance to the industry. The research study aimsto assess the knowledge of PUP CTHTM studentsabout sustainable dining and focus on improvingsocial, environmental, and economic sustainabilitypractices. A qualitative approach using purposivesampling was used in selecting the 14 participantswho participated in this research endeavor. Thefindings showed that launching the extensionprogram is effective and has helped promote andincrease students’ awareness of sustainable practices.In contrast, before the event, most students admittedthey were unfamiliar with or did not know whatsustainable dining practices are. In line with that,students gave positive feedback on includingsustainable dining practices in their subject learningto increase awareness because of the positive changesit slowly makes in their lives. This study furtherproved that despite being common and prevalent inmany areas of academic studies, sustainabilityremains uncommon to many people and requiressupport and patience for students to be more awareand invoke a sense of responsibility to consumerstowards their actions that ripple to the environmentwe live in.

Keywords – Sustainable Dining, Baseline assessment,awareness, environment