Local students recognized for essays on climate change - Lowell Sun

Local students recognized for essays on climate change
Locke Middle School sixth-grader Omkar Deshpande, standing, is recognized by the Billerica Adventure Series Corp. for his climate change essay on the causes and effects of air pollution, on April 22, 2023. (Courtesy Billerica Adventure Series Corp.)
Billerica Adventure Series Corp. President Shirley Holdman speaks while Locke Middle School fifth-grader Samanvi Rekapalli holds up her recognition for her essay on global warming and natural resources on April 22, 2023. (Courtesy Billerica Adventure Series Corp.)
Billerica Adventure Series Corp. Program Coordinator Neelam Wali, left, and President Shirley Holdman, center, recognize Locke Middle School sixth-grader Shaurya Kaila for his essay on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on April 22, 2023. (Courtesy Billerica Adventure Series Corp.)
Billerica Adventure Series Corp. President Shirley Holdman, left, reads the certificate of appreciation for Kennedy Elementary School fourth-grader Nora Harvey, who wrote an essay about global warming and ocean pollution, on April 22, 2023. (Courtesy Billerica Adventure Series Corp.)
Lunenburg Middle School seventh-grader Sunny Jean Huckfeldt-Kangsen, right, was recognized by Billerica Adventure Series Corp. President Shirley Holdman, left, for her essay on endangered wildlife and rising sea levels on April 22, 2023. (Courtesy Billerica Adventure Series Corp.)
Billerica Select Board Chair Michael Riley, left, and Billerica Zoning Board of Appeals member Anupam Wali, right, at the April 22, 2023 Earth Day event to recognize nine local students for their essays on climate change. (Courtesy Billerica Adventure Series Corp.)
Billerica Planning Board member Mike Parker talks to the students being recognized on Earth Day, April 22, 2023, at the Billerica Public Library for their essays on climate change. (Courtesy Billerica Adventure Series Corp.)

BILLERICA — Nine local elementary and middle school students were recognized on Earth Day by the Billerica Adventure Series Corp. for their essays on the different impacts of climate change on Earth’s ecosystem and society.

The nine students are: seventh-grader Rushil Nadiu, sixth-graders Omkar Deshpande and Shaurya Kaila, and fifth-graders Srihaas Mynampati and Samanvi Rekapalli, all of Locke Middle School in Billerica; fourth-graders Nora Harvey and Shanmukha Parameswaran of Kennedy Elementary School in Billerica; seventh-grader Sunny Jean Huckfeldt-Kangsen of Lunenburg Middle School in Lunenburg; and fourth-grader Jaya Wali Patel from Vinson Owen School in Winchester.

BASC President Shirley Holdman said Monday that the students are also nominated for Stand Up Kids, an honor presented to students who recognized a problem, either in their classroom or out in the world, and took steps to solve it. The fifth annual Stand Up Kids event will take place May 19 at 6 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Billerica, and will feature presentations of official citations to the students from state Rep. Marc Lombardo.

At the “Green Up Day” event on April 22, each of the students were asked to speak about what they wrote about in their climate change essays, which were also printed in the BASC’s Voices to the Future booklet.

“These kids took the microphone and talked like they were 40 years old to the adults about what we have been doing wrong with climate change,” Holdman said proudly.

Omkar, for example, wrote his essay about the causes and effects of air pollution.

“There are more than 700,000 factories in the USA. It is ranked 2nd with the most factories in the world! Over 137,000,000 people are affected by pollution,” Omkar wrote. “Around 1,000,000 people around the globe are dying from fossil fuel pollution yearly.”

Nora wrote hers about the pollution of Earth’s oceans.

“Pollution affects how animals live. Garbage entering a sea creatures’ home can cause that animal’s home to be destroyed and that animal is forced to leave,” Nora wrote. “If a predator comes across garbage floating in the water, they might mistake it as food.”

The students wrote about other aspects of climate change like the rise in sea levels from melting ice caps, the effects on natural resources used by humans, rising temperatures and endangered wildlife.

BASC Program Coordinator Neelam Wali said the youth are “seeing what adults cannot see” when it comes to human-caused climate change.

“They all have this vision of what should be happening, and what isn’t happening. We adults like to pretend everything will be fine and nothing bad is going to happen,” said Wali. “As a society we need to treat the universe better than how we are using it now.”

Wali said that the goal of Stand Up Kids is to recognize students who may not receive much recognition in the classroom, but have demonstrated they can make a positive impact on their communities.

“Not everyone needs to be a scientist or a mathematician. We need more people who are socially aware,” said Wali.