Grade 7 and 8 students from St. Thomas Aquinas High School and St. John School in Red Lake traveled to Thunder Bay last week to take part in an exciting conference.
The Agents of Change - Climate Action Project brought together students from across the northwest to take part in a variety of workshops on creating meaningful change with a focus on climate change.
"I was inspired by a girl named Kelsey. She started [getting involved] at a very young age and continued going with it into her career. Now she's suing the U.S. government for failing to protect her rights and the rights of young people," said Grade 7 student at STAHS, Charlie Gan.
Kelsey Juliana, is a youth activist and lead plaintiff in Juliana v. U.S. The lawsuit is about the failure of the U.S. government to act on climate change. The 21 youth named in the Our Children's Trust lawsuit claim that by creating a national energy system that causes climate change, the U.S. government is depriving them of their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and property.
Juliana was just one of the guest speakers at the three-day conference. Between speakers, students took workshops which looked at a variety of topics, not all on climate change.
"I learned about different strategies to piece together information and the thought process of determining if there's a problem," said Allison Patenaude, a Grade 8 students at St. John School. "It was really good. I learned a lot and I had a great time. It was very eye-opening and all the strategies we were taught were very useful not just for empowering others for climate change but other things in life as well."
Students were also encouraged to come up with strategies for reducing their school's environmental footprint. Patenaude shared her plan for St. John School.
"My team and I are hoping to create a composting program in our school and around our town," she said.
Grade 8 student at St. Thomas Aquinas, Mandy Fenelon, added that the entire conference was very inspiring.
"I enjoyed how passionate everyone was," she said. "They really want to help with climate change and make a difference in the world. There were so many different ideas we learned about and now we can take those back to Kenora."