Ecology to groom student leadership
Print Edition
I had the privilege of joining YCIS eight years ago. When I arrived I was delighted to learn that the school already had a thriving Environment Club. Later, I inherited the administration of the club and have had the amazing experience of facilitating it year after year, all the while seeing outstanding student-led achievements come to fruition.
The club has been very active with the “Roots and Shoots” organization, which was established by Dr Jane Goodall, the world renowned British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messenger of Peace. The club actively supports the group’s “Million Tree Project,” and each year YCIS students organize various activities to fund the planting of a 1,000-tree forest in Inner Mongolia. The students then travel to Inner Mongolia to help plant the trees. To date, Yew Chung has planted eight full 1,000-tree “Yew Chung Forests.” The school has been so proactive in the area of environmental protectionism that Dr Goodall herself presented the coveted “Green Star” award in 2012. The school was honored a second time last year, earning the “Valuable Partner” award by Roots and Shoots for the school’s continued dedication to ecology and environmental stewardship.
The environmental club actually ties a lot of science into our activities. Understanding conservation and the delicate balance ecosystems play in the role of supporting life on the planet helps students understand the tremendous importance of being good stewards of the environment.
Beyond this, however, the club allows students to lead and take initiative. Through the course of the student club’s maturity on campus, I no long “lead” the group. Rather, I advise and facilitate as the students plan, organize and develop initiatives entirely themselves. As an example, one of our Year 12 student-organizers is known to be reserved, but upon joining the group she has now blossomed into a confident advocate of the club and its projects. Not long ago she volunteered, along with another student, to get up in front of the audience at a concert with more than 500 attendees to announce fundraising for this year’s 1,000-tree project. She also translated her “pitch” into Mandarin! I believe this to be a fulfilment of what we aim to do here at YCIS, which is to empower students to tap into their passions, such that they have the confidence needed to be able to lead and direct projects on their own.
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