Planting Green Minds: How Student-Led Projects Cultivated Lasting Behavioural Change
When my students first proposed a sustainability campaign in 2021, it looked perfect “on paper”.
The visuals were polished. The messaging was strong. The ideas were convincing. But I had seen this pattern before: campaigns that generate attention but fail to change behaviour.
That was when I realised something critical: “Sustainable tourism is not an awareness problem—it is a behaviour problem.”
This insight became the foundation of how I mentored the Semillas Project, a student- led sustainability platform at Hoa Sen University. Its name, meaning “seeds”, reflects our belief that meaningful change starts with small individual actions that grow over time.
Across ten consecutive student-led seasons, each cohort has inherited the experience of the previous team while bringing new ideas, partnerships and activities. This continuity has transformed a classroom initiative into a living platform for experiential learning, community engagement and leadership development.
Sustainable tourism is not an awareness problem—it is a behaviour problem.
From Awareness to Participation
In its early stages, Semillas followed a familiar path. Students designed social media campaigns and awareness activities about environmental issues. The information was valuable, but awareness alone proved insufficient.
COVID-19 became a turning point. As mental-health concerns emerged, we shifted the question from “How do we raise awareness?” to “How do we change what people actually do?” Students were managing uncertainty, stress, isolation and declining motivation. Semillas responded by moving to online workshops, talk shows and reflective activities that connected environmental issues with mindful living. This practical adjustment revealed a deeper relationship between sustainability, emotional well-being and human behaviour.
Students then redesigned initiatives around participation. Instead of simply telling people to reduce waste, they created challenges that encouraged reusable items and organised a “Mindful Living Week”. Workshops allowed participants to practise eco-friendly habits and explore a more sustainable mindset.
Across the seasons, the project’s reach became more visible. Early campaigns generated more than 1,600 social media interactions; a later season recorded 2,039 Facebook page likes. Student teams collected more than 800 plastic bottles, welcomed over 50 workshop participants, and surveyed 158 young people before designing the “Green Mind” campaign. Today, the online community exceeds 4,000 followers. These figures demonstrate sustained reach and a progression from receiving information to taking practical action, although they do not alone prove lasting behaviour change.
The impact became tangible during a community clean-up along the Nhiêu Lộc canal in Ho Chi Minh City. Over four hours, the core team, volunteers and community participants cleaned a two-kilometre stretch, sorted recyclables and spoke with passers-by. Sustainability was no longer something presented only “on paper”; it became a shared experience of responsibility and collective action.
Growing Beyond a Student Project
One reason Semillas has remained active is its succession model. Each organising committee transfers knowledge, project materials, networks and leadership responsibility to the next cohort. Faculty mentoring provides continuity, while students from tourism, hospitality, business, design and languages contribute fresh perspectives.
The project is sustained through student volunteers, lecturer guidance, university facilities and communication channels, and collaboration with community organisations, guest speakers and industry partners. Project documents include sponsorship planning, while in- kind expertise, venues, digital platforms and volunteer time reduce dependence on one funding source. This partnership- based model allows each season to adapt while retaining the project’s purpose.
This led me to reflect on an idea that became central to the project: “Green from the Inside Out.”
Challenges Along the Way
One of the biggest challenges was the gap between intention and action. Students were genuinely passionate about sustainability, yet early efforts relied heavily on communication and lacked the experiential elements needed to turn intention into action.
Over time, especially during the pandemic, I began to realise that behavioural change could not be separated from emotional well-being and human connection.
Sustainability is not only about external actions—what we consume, reuse or recycle. It is also about internal states— how we think, feel and relate to others. COVID-19 highlighted inner awareness and emotional balance as foundations for more sustainable action.
This led me to reflect on an idea that became central to the project: “Green from the Inside Out.”
I observed that when students paused, listened more attentively and became more conscious of their emotions, their collaboration improved. Conflicts became easier to navigate, while differences in expectations and working styles became opportunities for learning. I therefore embedded mindfulness practices and reflective sharing into later seasons. Real impact, I came to believe, begins by shifting the mindset of the core team and participants—cultivating a “green mind” before expecting sustainable action.
Mindfulness did not replace sustainability; it became a way of experiencing it. Reflective discussions, mindful pauses and shared learning helped students become more attentive to themselves, more understanding of one another and more intentional in how they collaborated. Lasting engagement depends not only on information, but also on deeper internal shifts in how people think, feel and connect with sustainability.
Planting Seeds for the Future
Looking back, the most meaningful outcome is not simply the campaigns delivered or people reached. It is the culture of learning, collaboration and reflection that has continued across ten student-led seasons. Semillas has evolved from promoting sustainable actions into a platform where students learn to lead and inspire change together.
Looking ahead, Semillas aims to strengthen partnerships with schools, community organisations and industry; widen interdisciplinary participation; and embed reflective, mindfulness-informed practice in student leadership development. Future teams will continue documenting activities and outcomes so that progress can be evaluated across seasons, not only within individual campaigns.
Rather than measuring success only by the number of activities delivered, Semillas seeks to cultivate future tourism and hospitality professionals who can influence their teams, organisations and communities. Like its name, the project continues to plant seeds—not only for a greener environment, but for mindful leaders, stronger collaborations and lasting behavioural change from the inside out.
