The Ithaca College volleyball team has been recognized for winning the Liberty League Championship Tournament four years in a row, but its positive impact extends off the court as well.
Led by junior captain and outside hitter Naomi Clauhs — an environmental science major, 2025 All-Liberty League First Team and 2025 AVCA All-American Second Team — the volleyball powerhouse is at the forefront of promoting and working on sustainability projects at IC and in the greater Ithaca community.
Clauhs is involved on campus in numerous ways; all connected back to sustainability and environmental advocacy. As a member of IC Eco Reps, she works with Scott Doyle ’98, director of energy management and sustainability, on projects to promote ecological awareness. This includes donating used team clothing to IC’s Take it or Leave it, creating weekly food packages from leftover food at Terrace Dining Hall, and volunteering at the ReUse Center in Ithaca.
“[My peers and I] talk a lot about networking … [with] people who aren’t in the environmental science world,” Clauhs said. “I think having this now has helped me practice telling people about … how to be environmentally conscious without it being aggressive or shameful.”
Clauhs is also a student representative on the sustainability committee at IC, where she is now helping plan sustainability week, which will take place from April 16 to April 25. She also recently presented “The Possibilities of Aquaponics” at the Whalen Symposium on April 7.
Through her involvement on the volleyball team, she is also a Student-Athlete Advisory Council representative, which gives student-athletes the chance to work collaboratively with the athletics department and one another to make their athletic programs better. This helps her further promote programs to fellow athletes, like volunteering at the ReUse Center and food packaging at Terrace Dining Hall.
Clauhs is a part of the nationwide EcoAthletes program, where athletes around the country work together to help the environment through their respective training. As a part of EcoAthletes, she is now participating in the 2026 Collegiate Cup, where individual athletes and schools track their workouts, and the athlete and top three schools with the most exercise will have beach plastic removal funded in their names.
She obtained this volunteer role through a connection with a Cornell University student-athlete, and by meeting with EcoAthletes CEO Lewis Blaustein. This position was attractive to Clauhs because she felt that it gave her another opportunity to use her platform with other athletes around the country to advocate and work to keep the earth sustainable through athletics.
Through her involvement around campus, Clauhs has created a lasting impact on her teammates who have also become involved in these programs. Junior setter Wesley Slavin said these initiatives have brought the team closer.
“We always want to help,” Slavin said. “We always want to support, volunteer and give our time in any way that we can. So embracing that and being able to do it together is really just special and enjoyable for all of us.”
Slavin, who is also roommates with Clauhs, highlighted the lasting impact she has made at their apartment, where they practice composting and make easy yet impactful choices like shutting the lights off and refraining from using plastic.
Slavin has not only become aware of these simple changes, but has also loved seeing Clauhs, who hopes to get involved in environmental consulting, practicing the work she wants to do for a living.
“This is what she loves to do, [and] wants to do after college,” Slavin said. “So being able to watch her thrive in what she loves is really awesome.”
Looking back on how far they have come as a team both on and off the court, Clauhs said she is grateful for the way that her team bought into the movement.
“It’s kind of awesome because I feel like environmental science, there aren’t that many athletes in the major,” Clauhs said. “It’s really helped me branch outside of the athlete realm, and they are such special, beautiful people. I think I’ve tried to make an effort to connect those two different parts of my life.”
Other teams have also begun using their platforms to spread awareness about the environment. Clauhs said it was encouraging to work with the women’s soccer and field hockey teams around campus at food packaging and the ReUse Center. She said the work of athletic director Aaron Bouyea, by meeting with her in the fall and strategizing about how to fit this work into other athletes’ busy schedules, was commendable.
Clauhs said Bouyea gave her some more ideas on how to continue having this conversation with fellow athletes during SAAC meetings. While it is not a requirement for teams to participate in food packaging at the dining halls, it remains heavily suggested by captains and SAAC representatives.
In addition to Bouyea making this volunteer work more accessible for athletes, Doyle, a former IC rower, remains determined and involved in promoting the work that he does for athletes. Doyle said he is focused on creating the biggest possible impact on campus.
“Part of what I really like doing is working with people from diverse backgrounds and fields across the schools,” Doyle said. “We’re trying to work with more people in theater and journalism and art and business … a whole range of everything. I think there’s a spot for whoever is interested to be engaged.”
As the semester continues, there remain numerous opportunities to learn more and become involved with Doyle’s work.
“It’s such a big topic that usually you can wedge things in everywhere,” Doyle said. “We need to develop skills as citizens for contributing better to broader Ithaca, but also, wherever you call home.”
Looking ahead, Clauhs is excited to continue her work around campus with Doyle and her teammates. As expectations remain high for the defending Liberty League champions, they are just as focused on making an impact in the community as they are on the court.
“I think next year [is] kind of continuing to spread the word, getting more teams involved and … just helping people know what’s out there,” Clauhs said.
