On Monday, April 25, over 200 students from the Vancouver School District and throughout the region attended the VSB’s Student Sustainability Conference (VSBSC) at Eric Hamber Secondary. Originally formed by students in 2013, this student-led initiative is marked annually in April for the past 10 years. The goal of the conference is to facilitate meaningful discussions around sustainability and aims to empower youth with the skills and network they need to enact positive change.

Each year, a team of talented and hardworking individuals come together to organize the conference for students that are passionate about sustainability. The team is always working to bring the most impactful and relevant content to the community, to provide all attendees from secondary schools across the region with an informative experience. 

This year’s conference called ‘Scope’, focused on intersectionality within sustainability and how it applies to diverse topics such as fashion, business, and mental health. Guest presenters included activists, architects, researchers, and non-profit groups in these fields.

Conference organizers Rachel Dong and Ainslie Yang took over the District’s Instagram account during the conference to showcase VSBSC offerings, including the workshops, interactive activities, a non-governmental organization community fair – featuring 20 sustainable group organizations, and of course a zero-waste vegetarian lunch!

“At the conference, we discussed why diversity and accessibility within the climate movement is important and why we need many different types of climate activism to achieve our goal,” Yang and Dong explain.

Yang and Dong share a few key takeaways from Monday’s event:

• It is important to approach sustainability from many different angles and to consider the impact that climate action has on its different variations.
• We can make change both individually and together when we continue to grow as a climate action movement.

For the past 2 years, VSBSC’s planning committee has worked hard to keep the conference alive – and next year will mark the 11^th anniversary. Thank you to the VSBSC students, executives, and volunteers for your dedication to this initiative and your passion to tackle climate action. Congratulations on another successful conference!

To get involved, visit www.vsb-sustainabilityconferen....