It’s Our Future (IOF) is planning the first Chicago Youth Climate Justice Summit, set for October 10th at DePaul’s loop campus, and we got a boost from BLAST! The Summit planning team had an initial meeting this spring and it captured the imagination of Neuqua Valley High School junior, Andrea Ramirez. Andrea jumped into gear sharing her ideas and insights for how to make the Summit a huge success. In that spirit, she made it her submission to BLAST (Building Leadership Around Sustainable Transformation), a project of the Naperville-based non-profit Accelerate Climate Solutions.
The BLAST Competition is a challenge for high school students to develop projects that reduce waste, promote sustainable living, enhance biodiversity, and more, utilizing a variety of disciplines, from coding to gardening to art. Students, working on their own or as part of a team, are paired with mentors, to develop and implement their projects.
Andrea had multiple conversations with IOF staff about her BLAST “pitch.” She wrote a proposal and presented it at their pitch event in hopes of not only winning funding, but also recruiting more students to join the planning team. There were numerous wonderful projects including the 3rd place winner from IOF student, Rakshita Ruparel which would have a corps of students educating and supporting businesses about best sustainability practices.
Andrea’s proposal won 2nd place in the individual category which comes with a $500 prize for implementing her project! We are excited to see how she decides to apply those funds to making the Summit a great success. THANKS ANDREA!!