By Sakura, Kornelia and Lukas (students Grade 10)
We were invited by United World College in Maastricht to share ideas with other Dutch International Schools and we also attended the school-wide sustainability day at International School Hilversum to become inspired. Three of our GreenTeam students wrote about their experiences below.
UWC Maastricht
by Sakura
On 31 May, a group of the ISU GreenTeam visited the UWC campus located in Maastricht along with 9 other international schools from all over the Netherlands for their Dutch International Secondary Schools (DISS) Sustainability conference day to get inspiration and ideas on how to make ISU more sustainable. The goals of the day included getting to know other schools’ sustainable practices, as well as sharing challenges and suggestions as to how to overcome them.
The day started with introductions from all DISS schools, and we listened to other schools' ways of sustainability, which include catalogueing lost items, swap shops, preservation, bee hotels, gardening, recycling cooking oil from resident students, and having solar power. Then we attended a panel on the experiences and challenges of eco-team organisers and leaders. After lunch it was time for hands-on workshops, for example soap making and gardening.
We have gathered so much inspiration to initiate our own projects to make ISUt more eco-friendly and sustainable. We look forward to what is to come, and we hope that you all will support our efforts!
Eco Day experience at ISHilversum
By Kornelia
Another place that we visited was Sustainability Day at the International School Hilversum (ISH). On this day, there were no regular classes. Instead, the entire day was dedicated to learning about the environment and the importance of sustainability.
We attended various presentations on effects of global warming on OUR planet and listened to a professional who shared real-life examples of sustainable applications. Lastly, we took part in a group activity that focused on creating any kind of text like song lyrics or a poster that focused on one of the effects of global warming. We also enjoyed a delicious brunch (ice cream and strawberries).
While at ISH, we noticed various impressive sustainability initiatives. For example, they had labelled trash containers for paper, waste, and plastic which makes recycling much easier. They also run a small shop using items from the lost and found that haven't been picked up within two weeks. To help people find their lost items more easily, they created a website with pictures of these items.
We learned a lot from our visit and can’t wait to make our school even more sustainable. By following similar practices and working together, we the ISU Green Team believe that all of us can make a positive impact and help protect our green planet.
Join the ISU Green Team
By Lukas
The Eco Day at ISH was a lot of fun! It included many activities to raise awareness about rising carbon emissions and their negative side effects. To begin the day, students learned about natural disasters and how climate change and global warming affect them. We were then assigned a natural disaster and had to come up with a fun and creative way to get across information about it, usually in a fun song. Next, we got to learn about how Rabobank and the finance industry are fighting climate change and global warming from an advisor on Rabobank’s advisory board to show us real measures that are being taken to combat climate change. During lunch we got to explore the school and look around at some of the stands set up, you could make bee houses, go to a World Wildlife Foundation stand, or get ice cream and strawberries! Overall the ISH’s Eco day was very exciting to attend and hopefully, we can do something similar at ISU in the future!
If you feel inspired by these stories and want to support or join the ISU GreenTeam, please message Ms. Roetman to find out more!