Focusing on sustainability thinking

Six students from the Youth Leadership Forum at Hewlett High School spent part of their summer at Camp Snowball, a five-day conference in Tucson, Ariz., and returned with ideas to reduce their carbon footprint and encourage deeper thinking in their community.

Youth Leadership Forum (YLF) is an organization that focuses on sustainability of the environment and systems thinking, which looks at the relationship between a system’s parts instead of just the parts. This perspective can be applied inside and outside of the classroom. “It’s a way of expanding their thinking through a problem,” said Rose Panarelli, a teacher in the high school’s Business Department and a chaperone on the Camp Snowball trip. Students Zara Ahmad, Adon Chowdhury, Destiny Jones, Jesse Korman, Cherie Lou and Stephane Pierre and their chaperones Panarelli and David Rifkind, a high school Social Studies teacher, were recognized at the Sept. 21 Hewlett-Woodmere Board of Education meeting for their participation in Camp Snowball.

Korman, a senior, has been part of the YLF since freshman year and said he joined because he wanted to learn about public speaking. “It’s helped me communicate better and to look at the big picture behind everything which is an important skill for anyone to know,” he said. “During the first couple of years that I joined we kept saying we wanted to involve sustainability and through the Farmer’s Market, we’re now doing what we said we wanted to do.”

Last summer, YLF students traveled to Chicago for the annual conference and returned with the idea for the Farmer’s Market which is held at Grant Park every Friday until Nov. 18. “While in Chicago, we toured organic markets and thought that tied in with what we were learning about; sustainability,” Rifkind said. “With the help of the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Schools Endowment Fund, we’re reducing our carbon footprint and helping the local economy by encouraging people to buy local and help local farmers.”

The YLF also implemented an Eco Challenge by auditing two classrooms and one computer lab at the high school. The forum is looking to expand by auditing more hallways, classrooms and computer labs this year. “It’s a chance for us to see how much energy we’re using and find out the ways to reduce our carbon footprint,” Lou said.

Earlier this year the district replaced light blubs in the high school’s auditorium with energy efficient bulbs as well as added a geothermal heating and cooling system, Lou said, which heats and cools the school with the air from underground. “During the Eco Challenge, we found what the school was already doing, so we became more alert, aware and contributed,” Rifkind said.

Students are recruited for the YLF and the experience is usually a positive one. “As a freshman I was shy and didn’t know how to speak well,” said Ahmad, a senior and four-year member. “I’m more comfortable now because I can speak to large groups of people and I’ve worked with a lot of students and school administrators. It has opened up a lot of doors for me.”

Though school has only been in session for less than a month, YLF members have a lot on their plate. As an addition to the homecoming events, they, along with the Hewlett-Woodmere Public Schools Endowment Fund, will hold a Fall Harvest Festival, an afternoon of music, games, crafts and food, at Woodmere Middle School on Oct. 30, as part of that weekend. “It’s a dream come true because we wanted the Farmer’s Market and to do something for homecoming so it’s the best of both worlds,” Ahmad said. “Hewlett is a small town and this is a good way for people to get to know each other and I hope it becomes an annual thing.”