Our school participated in the “School’s sustainability challenge” where we ESS students had to make a video on measures taken by our school to promote sustainable development and show ways in which it has contributed to our environment. “Sustainable development is the development that meets the needs of the present, without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). Some sustainable practices include using solar panels, wind energy and doing crop rotation. As a school, we aimed to make a video which will not only spread awareness to localites and other schools but will also motivate youth and other citizens to work towards their mother nature and protect it for their future generations.
As a group we listed down the things that we wanted to include in the video like talking about the school’s structure and the reason behind it, using the waste food as a fertiliser by making it a compost, generating electricity from solar panels and got them approved by the senior authorities. We were then divided into two groups, one group was responsible for making the script and other was responsible for organising a debate competition and being the actors in the video. We also wanted to highlight the efforts made by early years and primary years students so we coordinated with different teachers and as evidence took various photos and videos of students working for our environment. Finally with the help of IT department we combined all the data and evidence to create a video for the challenge.
The learning outcomes that I achieved during this activity were:
L2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.
One of the biggest challenges was making a quality video as it would represent our school in the competition so there was a lot of responsibility on our shoulders. It was challenging as some people in our team had differing thoughts and wanted to add something else so reaching one conclusion was difficult in the time span given to us. Some of our fellow members did not want to act in the video also as they were feeling shy, so we had to get students from grade 5 and 6 seeking permissions from their respective teachers. This was also a big task as our juniors had their classes going on so teachers didn’t want them to miss on their studies hence, we had to find people who were free during that time. We overcame these challenges by being patient and understanding what our fellow members have to say and then did a voting accordingly. We also asked teachers when can they send their students and according to that we did the arrangement and called the IT department. Our supervisor gave us deadlines for each task as we had to submit the video for the challenge on time because of which I developed my time management skills. We were ready with our work on time which was appreciated by the senior authorities and our supervisor. This skill will help me in future while dealing with written assignments and other course works.
L4: Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences.
For most of us, it was very difficult to come early in the morning regularly as we felt sleepy and lazy at times but we had committed at first that we will do whatever the task involved and due to our commitment school took part in this challenge as it was a student-led task. To keep up our words we used to come early and used to plan ahead. We used to book an appointment with IT team and discussed how we will shoot a particular thing. Not only this to record the video we used to visit KG farm which is outside our school premises in the sweltering heat and shoot for hours. We had to miss our ESS slots to make the video and used to get drained while returning. While doing this task I realized that it is not easy to commit things and to be persistent. However, it shows our dedication and determination towards our work.
L6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
The issue is lack of sustainable development practices for which we are responsible. We are using natural resources way too much and depleting it. If this continues there won’t be sufficient resources left for the future generations. Hence, it is our utmost duty to save our nature for better living and for personal growth. Looking at the video we have made, I feel proud of our school that it has taken so many measures that lead to sustainable development. It will not only contribute to our environment but will encourage more people to work towards it.
Overall it was a very good experience as it gave me a sense of responsibility. I believe it is every resident’s duty to preserve their nature and work towards it.
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VHre1SEx24