Students gather in DC advocating for climate change - WUSA9.com

Students learn the importance of advocating for climate action | wusa9.com

WASHINGTON — Fifty students from across the country and Puerto Rico have been taking part in the National Advocacy and STEM Summit (NASS) through the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington and the Center of Transformation since Monday.

We say it all the time: the children are our future. And the young men and women that took part in NASS truly are.

Student participants have been learning, exchanging ideas, networking and advocating for change all centered around the topic of global climate change.

“Many of them are Black and brown people and they're disproportionately affected,” the President/CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington, Gabrielle Webster, said. “And so they’re starting to see just how this affects their daily lives.”

Joediel Rodriguez shared how his life in Puerto Rico is impacted daily by changing climates.

“It’s rough,” Rodriguez said. “Having to have our water rationed and sometimes you can’t go outside because it’s just way too hot.

The Center of Transformation created a ten-week Global Climate Change Curriculum to help club youth learn about how our climate is evolving and how to advocate for change. The program culminated with the week-long summit where students got to visit the Capitol to meet policy makers, tour the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and tour Boeings facility and speak to staff members.

Webster says, “They got to hear from young people that are at this corporation and they can now see themselves doing this in various types of careers. And that’s a real point of this is to expose our young people so that they can dream and then find the confidence to be able to realize those dreams. Achieve those dreams. “

And these students are already dreaming big.

“Usually you look at the government and you see it as such a far away thing, out of your reach," Rodriguez said. "But the truth is you being a citizen you can call the government. You can tell them we need to do this, we need to do this right now because if we don’t the consequences will be disastrous.”

The program wrapped up Thursday afternoon with students presenting their ideas on how to combat global climate change.

Students from Friendship Tech Prep in D.C. presented on what personal carbon footprints look like and what climate solutions will look like for future generations.

“[It's great] being able to advocate for D.C., because I know it’s not a lot of people that will be able to,” student Shantel Bownner said. “I feel like we’re starting off and maybe people will want to follow after us or say how they feel about global climate change.”

“It was pretty cool networking with people from other states and around the world," her classmate, Areyon Cunningham, added.

The student support from teachers and advisors is invaluable and the pride they have for their students is palpable.

“It has been a long 6 to 7 months, but, the glory in this right now, is learning about the world that they can create in the future," said Philisha Adkins-Lewis, an Environmental Science and Agriculture and Sustainability Technology teacher and advisor at Friendship Tech Prep.

While this was the first National Advocacy and STEM Summit, it will not be the last. Plans are already in the works for next year.

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