Eva Bergloff and Maitri Chandrashekar, Sustainable Community Development, were featured as student leaders at the SES Fall 2025 Showcase: Highlighting Student & Faculty Sustainability Leadership on Thursday, December 11th, at UMass Amherst. Chandrashekar and Bergloff presented on "New2U: Sustaining a Student-led Business on Campus."
Last year, Bergloff worked as a Sustainability Fellow with the UMass Sustainability team to launch the university's first student-run, year-round campus thrift store. Bergloff designed the store's business plan, operations manual, and storefront. Since opening last February, the store has demonstrated its mission to divert waste and foster creativity and community on campus.
As New2U's Treasurer and Marketing Coordinator, Maitri Chandrashekar puts community outreach at the center of her work. For example, in the aftermath of the Olympia Place Fire this past November, New2U turned its space into UMass's centralized campus donation center for fire victims. Anyone affected by the fire gained full access to free clothing, homeware, and school supplies. New2U also partnered with MassPIRG to provide care packages, each with a variety of donated items. To involve more students, Chandrashekar worked with her team to create engaging and informative content for New2U's Instagram. Daily social media posts shared donation resources and announced critical updates on the university's fire emergency response.
Chandrashekar says that this experience helped her gain the leadership skills required to direct a group of people in a time of urgency. "Especially after the fire, we had a large influx of volunteers (to whom we are so thankful for!)," she says. "We all needed to guide these volunteers and delegate tasks, so this job definitely helped with that."
For Eva Bergloff, a key takeaway from the fire aid initiative was that she and her team were able to prove how resilient the New2U program is. "As a small team of five, we had to quickly plan and implement a brand new operation to properly address the magnitude of this situation," she says. "We quickly implemented solutions by engaging with the community, leading with compassion, and staying positive."
As the new year approaches, it's clear that New2U's dedicated team will continue to make a positive impact on campus life by empowering students to shop more sustainably, become leaders in their community, and find new ways to support one another. To learn more about New2U's transformative initiatives and how you can get involved, visit the Sustainability at UMass website or follow New2U on Instagram @new2u.umass.
Eva Bergloff and Maitri Chandrashekar recognized as Sustainability Leaders for transformative work with New2U
