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In October we hosted a student conference called "Considering Climate Change". For one week over 750 students came together and consulted experts on how we could make a difference. David Noble of 2DegreesC and Robert Swan of 2041 addressed the groups and provided inspiration for actions. Students then formed groups within their schools to continue the movement to reduce our carbon footprints.
Some results of the conference are:
Results: Our results were unexpectedly enormous. Although the time period was too short to involve the Town and City. and no high schools got involved, six schools sent over 550 delegates so that we had to host two different presentations at two different schools to include everyone. When we called Inside Education to ask for their participation, they offered us the chance to host Robert Swan, the first person to walk to both the North and South Poles who runs an educational facility in Antarctica, in a speaking engagement. This came with full sponsorship of the Alberta Water Institute. They wanted to fill Robert talking to students about water during Water Awareness week and would be bringing out their own film crew to create a video. So we extended the conference to include Robert Swan Oct. 9th (at HPS), a Wednesday session featuring rotation between three speakers, David Nobel Oct.16th and the Leadership Planning Session Oct. 19th. We invited school board members and superintendants some of which attended. We contacted the local media and had three television stations and the local newspaper, The Stony Plain Reporter - attend. We were also featured on School Zone by CTV Edmonton, a profile of our school and what we are doing. Four of the schools met with David and we each planned actions for our school that we are currently carrying out. We haven't yet held the video conferences. We tried to connect with David Noble via video conference when he was attending the Copenhagen Conference, but the timing and access was poor. One student researched more and encouraged others to join Moms Against Climate Change
Reporter Article.
A thank you for involvement
As we wrap up our Considering Climate Change Conference I am compelled to say how great your support has been. It is wonderful to work with a staff that pitches in to make things happen for our students. In the middle of our hectic Parent Teacher interviews, we hosted an "international level, quality event for over 730 student participants. Reportedly, everything was well received. I thought you might like a little report.
In synopsis:
Robert Swan was reportedly fabulous. What a coo (sp) for us to have one of the men voted top 10 speakers in the world a few years ago. Kids have been talking about his adventures and advice. The sponsors, Alberta Water Research Institute have yet to tell us what they will be doing with the video, but I'll check into it a little later and let you know.
Inside education was fun and a bit interactive. Reportedly a good review of climate change and some students got to be the sun and the ozone. The CARE-Kit is going to central to our investigations. I'll let you know all about it probably next staff meeting.
Green Learning was a bit dry and technical, but included some important information and a good way to contact world leaders. We'll be pursuing the Green Cards to send before the Copenhagen conference.
David Noble was young, easy to talk to and personable. His presentation would have been great in a small group setting but included a number of ideas of how people can take action. We hope to link up with him by video conference or webcam while he is in Copenhagen, so the personal connection will be key.
CTV School Zone was fun and exciting. The student reporters and interviewees were thrilled to be working with Susan Amorogden (sp) and her camera man on the task. The script writing was a bit frantic and had to be chopped a number of times, but came together. The broadcast of the presentation will be on Thursday, October 29th on the 6:00 news.
Now we have the student leadership planning conference to wrap up. I'll be away with the 8 students on Monday morning and we'll let you know how that goes. (list of students by another email) What we want is an action plan that is simple, sustainable and can keep the students thinking about change.
Thanks to so many people,
Thanks to the students for their enthusiasm, involvement and good questions
Thanks to Colleen for her support and encouragement, and for helping with the CTV School Zone Script - and being the stand in for the interview. You were great!
Thanks to the leadership groups for their assistance with student volunteers
Thanks for banners, posters and signs - Glen, Randa, Beth, Tracy (and anyone I've missed)
Thanks to Tracy and Jared for covering my supervision
Thanks to all of you who lost gym time while we set up or took down - much appreciated - we achieved a professional look as we accommodated 467 students plus adults - teachers, visitors and reporters.
Thanks to all who helped with "crowd control". Overall I feel our kids were fabulous - attentive, patient, involved and polite. We got wonderful feedback from speakers.
Thanks to Sandy for all the little things you did - great work on the chairs and getting the kids pumped
Thanks to my photographers - Bryn and the tremendously talented Jared.
Thanks to Bryn and Tanya for the technical setup in the gym - with Sarah pitching in as well
One Invitation:
On Friday, October 9th we are celebrating climate change week.
At 10:00 we will be joined by Tomahawk and Duffield students as we are honoured to listen to a renown speaker. From 10:10 to 11:20 Mr. Robert Swan, OBE, who was the first man to walk to both the North and South Poles, will be addressing this group of grades five to nine students. He will begin our "Considering Climate Change Conference" with his 2041 campaign to raise awareness of the need to protect Antarctica. His focus is on teamwork, leadership and developing sustainability. This presentation will be video taped for his future use. (a short video at http://www.2041.com/the-voyage-for-cleaner-energy/ ). Please join us for all or part of this celebration.
In addition, we are thrilled to be meeting again on Friday, October 16th to hear another international speaker. David Noble, on his 2DegreeC Tour, will be telling us stories of his journeys near the poles, his interactions with people and his evidences of the need to take action on climate change. He hopes to inspire the students to get involved in this action. This presentation will be from 10:00 to 11:20. http://www.2degreestour.com |
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