By Jacob Balatico
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Over the course of the year, students throughout various science and social studies classes have prepared projects for the second Youth Envisioning Sustainable Futures (YES Futures) Symposium held on May 16 at MHS. These students chose an area in the beginning of the year in which they felt strongly about and wanted to create a change. Students then created their own projects to have the opportunity to make a lasting, positive impact on the environment.
“I like knowing that we made a difference,” said Junior Caroline Kelley. “I think that everyone should do something to help make a change. No matter how big or small, whether it’s implanting gardens in an elementary school or picking up trash at the beach. Everything helps.”
The students participating in the YES Futures showcase put in a lot of time and effort into their projects, which can be taxing. “These are busy kids that are involved,” said AP Environmental Science teacher Sandra Webb. “I have kids that are involved in band and other AP courses and calculus and all kinds of stuff. Bottom line is we believe in our kids and we think they can make a difference now and through this project they get a chance to showcase their work and their ideas and to do that to leaders in the community.”
As the year progressed, students went through a process of research, data collection and the search for a solution. Kelley teamed up with Juniors Risa Askerooth and Vanessa Roybal for their project on food sustainability. “It was really neat to be able to see our project come to life,” said Kelley. “At first it was just a plan. We never thought that we would actually build anything. But we ended up putting the garden beds in at Waena and to know that it was because of us that they were there was really cool.” Senior Nicole Antos said, “I chose to focus on the issue of cigarette littering on Oahu’s beaches. After doing extensive research on this topic, I created a PowerPoint presentation to educate about 50 MHS students on the prevalence and severity of this issue.”
These projects have not gone unnoticed by the community. “The coolest thing that I got out of my project was becoming more politically active,” Antos said. “I now know how to make my voice matter at the state level, which is very empowering and encouraging. I went down to the capitol and gave (a) live testimony in support of HB 525 – a bill that would have (banned) cigarette smoking and littering in all of Hawaii’s state parks.” Webb added, “These are great kids who are working to make a better community for all of us and I’m really excited about what they’ve done. I’m just proud of what they’ve learned how to do.”
Students now look ahead to the future, in hopes of figuring out how else they could help the community. They plan on fulfilling their part as a positive change in both the community and school.
