“Students are feeling a lot of climate anxiety right now” expressed Alex Weyerhauser, IMS Science and English teacher. “That’s why this summit was so important. It gave us and other educators tools to help students channel that anxiety into something positive.”

Ms. Weyerhaeuser recently attended the Global Summit for Climate Education in San Francisco with other IMS educators, Sonya Friel and Tom Stewart. The goal of the summit was to bring educators with an interest in sustainability together to network and brainstorm ways to improve climate education across the globe. Speakers at the summit spoke on the mental health impacts of climate change, the importance of participating in hyper-local work to combat climate anxiety, and how educators can encourage climate mindfulness in their classrooms. Mr. Stewart, IMS Director of Sustainability Programming and Initiatives, also presented as a part of a panel on climate education curriculum. “It was a reminder that we’re doing some amazing things at IMS, but simultaneously we could be doing so much more,” said Mr. Stewart in reflection of the weekend’s events.

As a capstone to their IMS experience, every year our ninth grade class participates in SDG Projects inspired by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Mr. Stewart has helmed this program for nine years at IMS. Looking back at the near decade of impactful student-led projects, he noted that students have primarily focused on big, global issues such as drought, hunger, and fast fashion. But what this summit has emphasized for our educators is that with these hyper-global issues, it is sometimes difficult for students to visualize the impact of the incredible work they are doing, which can lead to anxiety surrounding their projects. Moving forward, Mr. Stewart has been inspired to challenge our students to consider more local issues for their SDGs. By pursuing solutions for hyper-local issues, our students can see the results of their initiatives in person and in real time.

The ability to give our students the agency and power to do meaningful work outside of the classroom for the benefit of our community resonates deeply with our school’s motto, “Life Through Service.” We look forward to seeing how their work develops and flourishes thanks to the professional development opportunity our educators received at this year’s summit.