In spring 2020, Emily Pape was a high school sophomore in Park Ridge, Illinois, with dreams of playing college basketball. Pandemic restrictions made it impossible for Emily to participate in the usual recruitment process—playing games and getting seen by coaches. Instead of giving up, Emily dug in. 

“I decided to focus on what I could control,” she says. “And that was how much I trained on my own. I would do basketball workouts in my driveway and in my basement—sometimes alone and sometimes with my sister.” 

Emily explains that having so much time to focus on her game (she practiced 3-5 hours a day), ended up transforming her game. Her skills and playing improved, and, looking back now, she thinks this time was in many ways a blessing. 

During the spring of her junior year, she sent her upcoming game schedule to the Cornell women’s basketball coaches and told them about herself, her love for the sport and training regimen, and her interest in pursuing environmental studies. They responded and ultimately offered her a spot on the team.  

Fast forward five years and Emily is now playing Division 1 basketball at Cornell. She has founded a new club—Cornell Student Athletes for Sustainability (CSAS). And, she is rallying the entire Big Red community to participate in a fun challenge from March 10 through April 22 (Earth Day). Students, staff, alumni, and friends are invited to join the Cornell team as it competes against 28+ peer institutions in the EcoAthletes Collegiate Cup.  

Workouts for coral reefs 

This is Cornell’s first year participating in the third annual EcoAthletes Collegiate Cup Powered by Protect Where We Play, which is hosted by a nonprofit organization called EcoAthletes. Emily, an official EcoAthletes champion as of July 2024, registered Cornell in the event and has been appointed ‘captain’ for the university. The Big Red team has already surpassed the participant count of last year’s winner, Clemson University. Clemson had 72 participants last year, and Cornell has 100+ participants signed up for this year’s competition. 

Participation is free, and not only do your workouts benefit your personal health, they also count toward the effort to do greater good and protect endangered reef ecosystems. The project is sponsored by the Ocean Conservancy and Earth Day Network. At the end of the competition, these sponsors convert the winning team’s points into dollars—to fund the work of Coral Gardeners, a non-profit group working to rebuild coral reefs. 

Starting March 10th, participants track their physical activity on Climategames, an app that gamifies climate action. The greater the participation, the more coral is planted. 

“We’ve got more than 100 people registered right now (at the end of February). The second highest team has 20 people registered, so we're ahead of the game right now. I think we're in a good spot,” Emily says.  

To bring some celebrity vibes to the competition, Emily has also recruited two professional athletes, Brent Suter, a pitcher with the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, and Napheesa Collier, a forward with the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, to join the Big Red team. Both professionals are also EcoAthletes champs, with a shared passion for the planet and a significant fan base.  

Emily invites everyone to sign up for the Cornell team, log their time working out, and earn points. She also invites Big Red participants to share photos of their workouts via Instagram at @cornellsas_, or via email to cornellathletessustainability@gmail.com. 

A passion project 

Emily founded CSAS in summer 2024, after she attended an athletics sustainability conference in Miami. She says that the conference was mostly intended for sustainability directors at various Atlantic Coast Conference institutions, and Emily was one of the youngest people in attendance. She went to learn what other colleges are doing to make their athletics programs more sustainable.  

“If 4,000 fans at a hockey game think, wait, this is recyclable. Let me put it in the recycling bin. That has an impact.” — Emily Pape ’26 

Inspired by this experience, Emily decided to see what she could accomplish back at Cornell. She recruited a few like-minded student athletes to serve on the board and launched the new CSAS club in fall 2024.  

In just six months, the group has made impressive progress. About 50 people showed up at their first meeting, which was advertised mostly through word-of-mouth. The club now has about 150 members and an impressive list of accomplishments. 

These include:

Credit: Provided

• Hosting a ‘Green Game’ at a men's hockey game in November to help educate fans about reducing and sorting waste
• Improving waste signage in Bartels Hall
• Introducing sustainability announcements at all home games
• Speaking with all-athletics staff and coaches about how CSAS builds community
• Launching a 1.5-credit sustainable athletics course in fall 2025, featuring guest speakers from across the country 

Emily says that her big goals for CSAS are mindfulness and empowerment.  

“Mindfulness is people thinking about their impact,” she explains. “Because when everybody thinks about that, then that's when change happens.” 

Credit: Provided

She shares an example of how this change adds up: 

“If 4,000 fans at a hockey game think, wait, this is recyclable. Let me put it in the recycling bin. This has an impact. I want people to understand the positive impact that they can make through individual and group habits,” she says. 

Emily thinks that once people understand the impact they can have, this will empower them. 

She shares an example from her Cornell basketball team. Collectively, she and her teammates decided that they would each use just one plastic cup during games, rather than using a new cup every time they pour a drink of water.  

“We can do that, you know. It’s empowering when they realize it wasn't that hard. They didn't have to do much differently.” 

Credit: Provided

Silver linings 

In addition to honing her basketball skills, Emily shares another silver lining from the time she spent at home during the pandemic. While scrolling online, she came across a few documentaries that rocked her world: Cowspiracy and Seaspiracy.  

“I remember this moment so vividly. I finished watching Seaspiracy, and I was just speechless. The video was about the fishing industry and how corrupt it is. They cut the fins off sharks and threw them back in—there’s so much animal cruelty,” Emily says. “Tears were streaming down my face, and it was so eye-opening for me. I knew the fact I was crying like this meant something. I needed to do something with this.” 

Emily, who had always loved Dr. Seuss’s story The Lorax, realized she wanted to learn more about sustainability, so she could take meaningful action.  

She researched colleges that had strong programs in environmental studies and sustainability. Cornell was high on her list.  

As one of four children, Emily says the generous aid package Cornell offered helped tip the scales when it came time to make her decision.  

Credit: Provided

Emily explains that the Ivy League does not offer separate scholarships for athletes—but instead evaluates aid in the same way as it does for any student—based on the family’s financial need.  

“The grant aid was a big, big deal for my family because my parents are trying to get four kids through college,” Emily says. “Cornell is expensive, but they also understand the value of this Ivy League education,” she adds. 

As Emily contemplates the future after graduation, her dream job would combine her love of sports with her passion for sustainability. She envisions finding a role in the green sports world, where she can help to institutionalize sustainability into sports culture—whether it be through donating excess food after the big game, rethinking concessions to minimize waste, or promoting greener behavior among fans.  

“We have a long way to go as a society and a world,” Emily observes. “I just love getting better, by taking baby steps and getting maybe 1% better every day. That’s the same mentality I have towards basketball,” she adds. “It keeps me going, because there's always stuff I can do better.”