Business letter - final draft

xxx South xxx East

Salt Lake City, UT xxxxx

9/9/11

John Doe

xxx South xxx East

Salt Lake City, UT xxxxx

Dear Joe:

I really enjoyed being a Student Ambassador this year. Many of the wrinkles we had during First Year Student Orientation last year were ironed out and that is great. The extra freedom the SA’s had to interact with the new students was valuable and fun. However, I would like to bring your attention to the amount of bottled water given out on campus.

I understand the need to provide water to students and their families during orientation and the issues this task can create, but I think there are solutions that can also help Westminster fulfill their pledge to work toward carbon neutrality. The bottled water around campus during orientation seemed like a step backward in that regard. I know that there are recycling bins around campus, but realistically not everyone will recycle theirs. 

As you know, all of the new students are given a reusable water bottle. If water filling stations were placed around campus, students could refill their bottles when necessary, and we wouldn’t have to have bottled water available for them. 

The real issue is how to keep the families of the new students hydrated. There are solutions that could greatly reduce or completely eliminate the need for bottled water. Westminster could have reusable water bottles (like the students get) available for a reasonable price on campus for purchase. This way families could buy a memento that would also reduce the amount of bottled water needed. Another idea is to include a BYOB (Bring Your Own Bottle) message in the orientation information packets sent to the families of students that explains that Westminster is environmentally aware and that there will be water stations around campus.

I think new students and their family members would be receptive to this idea. Reusable water bottle use has been heavily advertised lately as an easy way to “go green” and it seems like the people who are attracted to Westminster would like to be a part of our movement.

I hope that this issue can be discussed. I would love to find a way to completely eliminate the presence of bottled water distributed by Westminster at FYSO, but even reducing the amount would be a great accomplishment. Please feel free to contact me with questions or if I can be of any help with this project.

Thanks for your time,

Sammi Branch