SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE | Recently, some Year 10 students Amelie and Rebecca, and Year 9 students, Ayeesha, Zali and Emma represented the College at the ‘Sustainability in our Schools’, hosted by Edmund Rice College. There were students from 14 schools around the Wollongong Diocese all eager to learn about and contribute to discussions related to energy and the environment. This conference is hosted regularly by Edmund Rice College and students attending developed skills in leadership and communication.
Each school was required to present a four-minute presentation on their school’s energy usage, sustainability strategies, and future sustainable plans. St Mary’s students conducted an electrical audit and presented results of what they felt were the school’s areas for improvement. The ‘FLICK’ idea, a reminder to turn off the - fans, lights, overhead projectors, close windows and lock the door.
There were many workshops to participate in and speakers to listen to. The highlight of the day was motivational speech by Costa Georgiadis, an environmental educator and silver Logie winner, as well as the host of Gardening Australia. Costa spoke about how sharing ideas is preferable to keeping them to yourself and how we were the next generation of sustainable leaders in our society. He answered questions such as, “How do I convince a stubborn adult that the planet’s sustainability is a real problem!”
Students were thankful for this opportunity and have already begun creating action plans for future strategies for our College.