Earth Week: What is Sustainability?

Often people will ask that very question: What is sustainability?  Other times people will assume that it's helping the environment, pure and simple. But the reality is that it's much more complex than that. This past week - Earth Week - we had the pleasure of welcoming Kate O'Connell (Compass Education), an elementary school teacher who uses tools whose focus is education for sustainability, to conduct a workshop for 14 of our ES teachers. 

The premise is that sustainability is essentially the interplay of different elements - in this case Nature, Economy, Society and Wellbeing (N,E,S and W) - in a systematic manner. Much of what Compass Education focuses on is the analysis of issues, trends, behaviors, etc., through the four compass points of sustainability (the N, E, S, and W) followed by the critical thinking required to determine cause-effect relationships and systems thinking. This is very similar to the ESD dimensions that we utilize at ISKL. 

What does all this have to do with our children?  Well, at ISKL many of our conversations revolving around critical thinking, ethical living, problem solving, etc., are geared around those types of sustainable thought processes. Children as young as three or four can understand the concept of cause and effect. Even before the can write they know that a seed, soil, water and sunshine can result in a beautiful plant and that can, in turn, provide seeds for future generations. Just this week, for example, our PS students just enjoyed the organic cucumbers they planted a while back!  But similar learning takes place across the entire school at developmentally appropriate levels.  

During Earth Week - and throughout the year - our classrooms conversations revolved around issues of being in the the outdoors (especially with our MS off to Malaysia Week), meat consumption (through Meatless Mondays), organic and locally produced food supply (through our very own gardens), energy, culture, human health, stress, artistic expression, culture, poverty, critical analysis of the media and a host of other meaningful educational experiences!  These are all sustainability conversations. Powerful ones.

Excellent teachers connect these conversations with sustainability thinking, add a pinch of empowerment and provide tools and processes that allow the understanding to become much, much deeper and the engagement much more meaningful. 

MS Commits to Action

Last Friday, February 5 our grade 7 global issues and MS Student Council students were busy tackling the world's problems in a practical solution-oriented way. In what we hope is just the first of many Transforming Our World conferences, close to 130 students from ISKL and MKIS addressing the UN Global Goals for sustainable development.  The end result was a series of action plans (referred to as "Commitments to Action") presented at the end of what felt like a very short day (time does fly when you're engaged)! 

What was perhaps particularly impressive about this conference was that, from start to finish, it was a student-driven conference. Of course, teachers were there to guide and support, but the conversations, research, deliberations, learning activities and presentations were all entirely the work of our students. 

Much of the feedback from both student participants and adult observers pointed to an exceptional amount of focus, hard work, collaboration and solution-oriented conversations. It spoke of meaningful conversations, concern for the world and realistic empowerment. 

The day was incredibly well organized and students were able to develop skills in research, using technology, critical thinking, communication and public speaking. The final outcomes - the presentation of Commitments to Action (which can be found here) were particularly impressive, ranging form community plans to address waste to programs to ensure opportunities for girls, education programs for island populations and many more. 

Such powerful learning experiences offer a window into the development of "responsible global citizens".  As an observer of such opportunities for authentic learning through inquiry and combining experiential, cognitive, emotional and social growth with a purpose one cannot help but feel that unwavering sense of pride in children becoming global citizens literally as they speak. 

Community Engagement: In Elena's Words

The following is a post written by Elena Ortiz ('17) who worked tirelessly as a member of the organizing committee for the 24 Hour Run (to Stop the Traffic) aimed at addressing the issue of modern day slavery. Away from the eyes of most of us, she worked day after day for six months in a true collaborative project spanning a number of schools and the entire region. Her story is shared here as an example of our students' engagement with the community and a living example of ISKL's school-wide learning results. If you have a moment ask her about it and see her eyes shine with pride as she talks about it. 

Here is Elena's story, shared with her permission:

"This year I had the wonderful opportunity of being Kuala Lumpur’s Executive Director of Advocacy and Impact of the 24 Hour Race. This was both the most challenging, and eye-opening experience that I have ever undertaken. When I started my responsibilities back in May, I knew that it would be a challenge, but I had absolutely no idea just how far in over my head I was. But I was full of passion, energy, and ready to learn. Our only adult ‘supervision’ was in Hong Kong, meaning that it was up to the five of us directors to put on an entire event start to finish. And that meant everything from writing business proposals, to selecting and maintaining a partnership with beneficiaries and even trying to coordinate permits with the Malaysian government. I essentially devoted most of my life to trying to keep up with its mountain of demands, and cannot count the times where my teachers have caught me formatting the financial spreadsheet instead of doing math problems or finishing my essay. 

The factor that drove me most was knowing the impact that I was having. Human slavery is one of the biggest problems in the world, claiming the lives of 35 million people and plaguing every single country. The industry is a 150 billion dollar problem that nobody is talking about. Knowing in the back of my head that my efforts were helping to save lives and shut down some of the biggest injustices the world drove me to put every single challenge and task at the top of my priority list to complete. I am so proud of what my team and I were able to accomplish, and I’m so excited to see how the movement grows in the future."

Starting off with New Programs!

Hello to one and all from the Sustainability & Service Learning Office. By now, hopefully, a semblance of routine has found its way to your home. The new year brings a great many new initiatives/events on the sustainability and service learning front and, as is not customary, this article will do it's part to communicate what our students and community are up to in this regard. 

The second day back for our teachers was taken, in part, by training in service learning modalities and concepts. Cathy Berger Kaye spent four days with us providing training to all our faculty and a select group of student service leaders. It was a great initiation to what we hope will be an action-packed year of sustainability and service learning. 

The year also brings with it a new Middle School program in which we hope to engage our students in independent community involvement through the use of the service learning process. The program, nameless until our students find an appropriate name, will focus on documenting and highlighting things our MS students are doing outside the realm of their classrooms but that are none-the-less learning experiences in their community. 

At High School we are welcoming a new course: Global Issues, Local Solutions. The course is intended as a venue for students to pursue action-based learning to address sustainability issues. The course, coupled with the re-introduction of a Global Issues Network club should pave the way to a greater opportunity to address authentic learning. 

We are also taking our first baby steps to creating a Global Issues Network (GIN) program in the MS too. Though in the past we've participated in such events at other schools we are planning to host our first Global Issues conference (on a small scale) in February, largely based on our Global Issues classes. 

On a sustainability front we have created an Operational Sustainability Committee this year which will include all sorts of stakeholders, from our finance department to our facilities to cleaning staff, cafeteria vendors and transport office.  The idea, of course, is to bring everyone "to the table" so to speak, and identify ways that efficiency can be increased while ensuring operational sustainability.  

Our elementary school too won't be left behind. Typically service learning is alive and well at Melawati, but this year there are higher expectations of service learning in all grade levels. 3KD, in particular, will be using "water" as a consistent theme and participating quite extensively in the Eco-Schools programs, of which ISKL is a Green Flag school. 

Wow. That's a lot of new things starting up. Add them to an already extensive list of happenings, and you've got yourself a busy place. More to come as the year continues!

Earth Week 2015: Our Turn to Lead!

The Earth Day Network in the United States has given Earth Day and theme of "Our turn to lead". ISKL's Earth Week is currently being considered as a formal partner event for the Earth Day Network, which is a fun added benefit to our week-long set of things to do. 

This year, as usual, the MS is headed out to the "wild" for Malaysia Week during Earth Week. It's a fitting combination of environmental awareness and getting dirty and having fun with it too. 

That leaves the ES and HS to do a more indirect rendition of the Week. The schedule for the week can be found here. It highlights two weekends of outdoor experiences:

• Saturday, April 18: Farmer's Market & Community Recycling
• Sunday, April 19: Climbing for Everyone at Batu Caves
• Saturday, April 25: 
• Hike to Sungai Pisang waterfall
• KDE Loop clean up
• Sunday, April 26: Hike to Kemansah Waterfall (for ES families)

Apart from that, of course, there are a number of on-campus events both at Ampang and Melawati. If you are the parent of an ES student perhaps you'll considering sending some of your son/daughter's outgrown uniforms to the Uniform Swap (on Wednesday and Thursday) to exchange them for ones that fit. Classes are invited to join the ISKL Earth Hour on Tuesday morning as well in support of energy conservation and awareness. Other events include a prep senior trip to FRIM, a number of public service announcements by the Red Hats, HS competitions organized by the Earth Club, a HS photo competition and a mural as well. Lots of great stuff!

Earth Week is largely a celebration of the Earth. As it should be. Of course, with the increasing awareness of it beauty and fragility, and as the theme suggests, it's also a great time for action and conversations at home. After all Earth Day is every day, right?

Children & Nature, Together.

 

This week was a good one for going out. The weather was warm, but not overwhelming. The rain was on holiday. Around a small bend, below the Klang Gates reservoir, a small stream was starting it's journey past the first few houses and onward to the Klang River and beyond. It was the perfect time to get kids outdoors - our third graders to be exact. 

This was their second trip there, to the clean waters or the small stream. The groups were smaller than previous visits and this gave it a different feel. It was the feel of being visitors, not tramplers. It was the feel of seeing, not being seen. It was quieter and friendlier and more authentic. 

The students were joined by a number of parents (thank you!) and their teachers, participating in Earth Echo's World Water Monitoring Challenge which allowed them a bit more time to analyse, observe, discuss and assess the state of this small habitat from a scientific perspective. The students took water temperatures, tested for sulphates and phosphates and pH and all that fun stuff, entering their data into their worksheets.

Miraculous things happened. They were awed by the dragonflies. Talked about the fish darting this way and that. They put their feet in the water and removed things that didn't belong there. They observed the woodpecker knocking away at the tree above them. They noticed the color of the water (or lack thereof). In short, they were engaged in nature, pure and simple. Even when they were not "on task" they were part of it. 

Richard Louv, a renowned writer about children and nature who wrote Last Child in the Woods, highlights the positive relationship and long-term benefits of children in nature. Among other things his research (and blog) highlights, time and time again, both the immediate and life long benefits of child-nature interaction. 

Louv would have approved with the experiences of our grade 3 students this week, but perhaps not as much as the the children themselves approved. They seemed well adapted and very content in this environment, and happy too. As it should be. 

Real Life Collaboration

Ever since ISKL became Malaysia's first green flag school we have been in a bit of limelight, so to speak in the world of sustainability and environmental education. Certainly it has thrust us into the view of many schools - both internationally and locally - who are paying close attention to what we do. It's a great feeling that we can be proud of all we have accomplished to date. But there is little time to sit on one's laurels. There's work to be done. Collaborative action planning, to be exact. 

This past Wednesday our Green Council played host to the Green Club from SriKDU. It was a very productive few hours with a variety of activities facilitiated by our Green Council members and Sustainability Coordinator. Our visitors received an "eco highlight tour" of our Ampang campus and were duly impressed. They also had time to work closely with our Green Council members addressing issues in our schools and brainstorming ideas on how to address them. Leverage points were identified and action plans were initiated.

On Saturday this type of collaboration will extend even further. Our Green Council will host it's 2nd Eco-Schools Mini Conference. The event will include the participation of SK TUDM Subang, Sri KDU, Alice Smith, SMK Damansara Damai, SMK Bukit Indah Ampang, a few independent members of our community and a local community organization called EcoCentric Transitions. It is poised to be a powerful, authentic, collaborative experience for all and we hope to challenge the global issues that are faced by our schools on the local level. 

It is such authentic and real collaboration that allow our students to truly become global citizens. There is power in such out-of-school collaboration across cultures, educational systems and perceptions. It's just another glimpse of the exceptional education that we provide at ISKL and a true testament to all the students and adults - in all the schools - who are involved in building a bright future.

Action Packed Final Two Weeks

Just over the past two weeks a good amount of things have happened related to our school. In focusing on nature and sustainability here are some highlights:

• The MS ISTA trip to Telunas, Indonesia featured 40 ISKL students performing (physical theatre, dance, clowning and storytelling) in natural settings along side SAS and AISS (Singapore).
• Grades 1, 5 and 6 welcomed d'Arcy Lunn who focused on global citizenship and what it means for our students.
• Grade 8 is well underway on their newly-revamped unit on Climate adaptation. A big part of this is the role playing of students with regard to a variety of global issues as they relate to specific countries; a sort of MUN meets GIN format. 
• Grade 7 is well underway for planning their Ecology Symposium which will take place in January.
• Grade 6 service learning classes are already honing their skills and interests to global issues and will be identifying a specific service learning experience soon. One class has decided to focus on poverty. 
• Our grade 1 students combined their global citizenship voices to create a video about sustainable Christmas celebrations (here). 
• Grade 3 has been incredibly active on the "green" front this past month
• They welcomed Ecocentric Transitions to build their own vermi-composting bins. Four bins now reside in our grade 3 classrooms. 
• They visited the Klang Gates stream to do water quality testing with the Global Environment Centre.
• They have also been working on identifying appropriate tree species for the outside of our Melawati campus wall where the new wall has been build just outside the gym. 
• Our Preps have been planting seedlings for their new Garden Tower. 
• HS Earth Club organized our very first Farmer's Market which, small though it was, was heralded as a great new direction for our community. And, of course, the on-going Community Recycling continued on that same day bringing in over 1 tonne of recyclables. 

Can you believe all that has happened just in a past few weeks at ISKL?  Thinking about it, it's a whole lot of work, effort and great learning going on!  Just the type of thing you like to see before heading into a long break. Happy Holidays to everyone!  See you in 2015!!

Serving Learning

Cathy Berger Kaye is one of those people who, once met, is never forgotten. She is engaging and passionate and enthusiastic and walks the talk of service learning. She travels the world sharing best practices on education, teaching and learning methods, action planning and ties it all together beautifully. Last week ISKL was fortunate to have her visit with us for two days of direct support with our teachers and students followed by a two day EARCOS Weekend Workshop on service learning. 

During her visit she worked with the following groups:

• The ES service learning committee in expanding service learning in the curriculum
• The MS grade level core teams on their integrated units (grade 6 impact unit; grade 7 ecology unit; grade 8 climate adaptation unit)
• The HS service team leaders, CAS and Community Service Coordinators working on infusing the service learning framework in our out-of-class experiences
• The grade 5 students doing an activity called "four corners" which focused on crating guiding questions, determining skills and interests as well as identifying methods of investigation for topics that matter to students
• The HS Service team student leaders focusing on motivating and engaging others.
• 31 ISKL teachers and administrators (and 25 non-ISKL teachers) doing a two-day service learning workshop on teaching and learning.

Four days are rarely enough. One generates more questions than one has answered, as a reflection of what learning should be. 

The biggest take away from her visit was that teaching should reflect the real world, should give students "voice and choice", should be a true connection to community and/or global needs and focus on the learning. It was an inspiring end to the week and, considering the ever-growing number of people who are being touched by her work at ISKL, it's fills us with motivation to make learning even more authentic and engaging as we continue to build spirited, socially responsible global citizens".

Building Global Citizens: GAP & BCP

In the past two weeks both students and teachers have been involved in a plethora of initiatives and learning aimed at building communities and developing global citizens. It's a sustainability and service learning dream come true!  

It would have been difficult to avoid getting sucked into the enthusiasm revolving around the high school Global Action Program (GAP). In large part GAP is about building bridges. Bridges between different people and places and systems and structures. Bridges between ecological, social, economic and political sustainability. Bridges of experiential learning for our students and those we meet. Every trip is integrated with a service program that is powerful and authentic.

In the case of Cambodia 9, which I was privileged to participate in, it was through the building of a home for a rural family whose daily income, on days when work is available, hovers around USD 3. Our students also taught English to children around Seam Reap for whom the language can, quite literally, be a one way street out of poverty. We also initiated the building of a library in a community school, using discarded plastic bottles and waste. The arrival of subsequent school groups, during the fall semester or school travel, should see the building completed by November. 

It was in conjunction with one of those GAP trips to Bali that our elementary librarian, Suji Dehart, was doing her bit for global citizenship as well. She has been integral in establishing a partnership between ISKL and a rural Balinese community to support literacy there. The Bali Children's Project has just begun by providing a library for the young children in the area with obvious benefits to literacy, education and beyond. It was particularly meaningful that a group of GAP students supported the establishment of the library and the reading to children there.

Extending it even further, Suji and David Herbert, our new Elementary School Service Learning Coordinators, are using the Bali Children’s Project as the focus of fundraising for Melawati, largely through our grade five Red Hats initiatives. These are the baby steps in long-term commitment to sustainable development in communities where need is highest.

These are but two examples of how, at ISKL, the pursuit of global citizenship is taking form.  One need only to look around to see ISKL’s community doing it’s bit in making the world a better place without fanfare or pomp or circumstance.

Grade 6 Service Learning: The Gears are moving

ISKL is a dynamic place. In the classroom our students are exposed to hundreds of new concepts and ideas and theories and frameworks and discussions and, and, and... This 'buzz' however, continues even after they have gone home. It's the sound of a great school working on making education "exceptional". It was during those meetings that the idea of a service learning elective for grade six students was born.

16 students are taking service learning this trimester (and it's offered again next trimester as well).  I had the pleasure of joining the two classrooms last week as they deliberated what would be most appropriate fit for their interests, the needs of the community and the limitations given by the trimester. It needed to be authentic but also something that would allow them to have an impact. Conversations ebbed and flowed from issues of self esteem to waste to energy to respect for others to animal rights. Students had a number of questions for me - "where does our waste go?" or "why do we have so many plastic bottles?" - and the answers invariably led to more questions, slowly opening the door to the understanding of issues and their complexity. 

The power of conversation and analysis should not be lost here. Given time to deliberate, to discuss and to recognize the nature of addressing complex issues one can really see the learning clicking into high gear. The sixth graders have no lack of energy and they'll need it because they are ready to tackle the issues of nutrition, waste and energy use at Ampang!  Tall orders for 12 year olds but with such potential to be mini change makers.

I like to tell people that you can't build an NBA player by asking them to start playing basketball in college. Using the same logic, you can't expect kids to become change makers and future builders by asking them to understand theoretical constructs without also giving them the chance to put things into practice. I am not privy to the action plans of grade six yet, but given the depth of conversation and the interest of the students I am sure that they'll be great! 

Before we go... we're planning for next year.

Every day that passes one can hear the buzz in the hallways. It's the anticipation of a long vacation with little interruption and less worry about formal learning. Next week will bring with it a sudden quiet to the place. The first people, undoubtedly, will be getting ready to head home within hours of that final bell.  But work here continues over the summer.

From a sustainable front we are happy to know that a new off-grid solar powered set of fans (and charging plug) - financed by our Annual Fund donors - will be set up at the front of our campus. Both practical and educational the station should be ready to go when we all return from the summer. 

The hydroponics garden too, which was recently constructed by our Green Council, is slated to get a bit of a "fix up" with the installation of a water catchment area as well as some minor adjustments to the system, including the expansion of the spaces available for the plants to grow. By the time we return in August we hope to have a system that will be bearing fruit (or vegetables, actually) including lettuce for our cafeteria and act as an example for vertical gardens which was, after all, the intent of the Green Council's initiative. 

We will also be organizing early-August training for our Green Council to make sure that 2014-15 starts off right out of the starting blocks. The JUMP Foundation is coming in the very first weekend of school (August 8-9) to conduct leadership, action planning and facilitation training for out 15 Green Council executive members. We are aiming high for this group and hope to ensure that they have all the tools to do a great job next academic year through empowerment, skill building and reflection. It's the kind of capacity building that makes a big difference. 

So, while we are all roaming about and visiting family and friends, it's good to know that ISKL continues to establish both physical and human capacity. Have a wonderful final week!

Snippets of Sustainability & Service

As the year winds down from a sustainability and service learning standpoint we it gives a chance for respite - though there is still much happening - to recognize that the statement "less is more" is sometimes fitting at ISKL. In the past couple weeks a number of small activities and events have taken shape and are shared below:

• Grade 2 conducted some research on water use during tooth brushing by measuring water running continuously and only for rinsing. They found that by keeping the tap off until rinsing saved, on average, 85% of water!
• Grade 5 did some research of their own, focusing on ISKL's environmental indictor data (found here). Their responses revealed in-depth analysis of our school's energy, water, waste and air miles usage.
• A HS EAL asked the Sustainability Coordinator to come in and discussed a possible solar lap top charging station, its logistics, funding, etc. They will soon be writing a proposal for next year's Annual Fund. 
• The MS has just added a Grade 6 elective on Service Learning, which will be offered for the 2014-15 academic year. 
• A small group of grade 4 students decided to focus on hunger and reforestation, combining the two in a food drive and sapling/plant give away. The food goes to a local soup kitchen while saplings and plants are planted in our gardens and terraces!
• The Interactive Garden at Melawati is receiving lots of little visitors! During breaks students are seen there engaged in the sand pit, the tic-tac-toe area and looking at the flowers that are now in full bloom. 
• The HS Environmental Science class conducted water testing at several spots on the Ampang campus. 
• PJCC has undertaken planting of carrot, tomato and watermellon in the past few weeks. Largely the little sprouts are growing very well and we intend to transplant the watermellon into the Prep garden beds next week!

There are many more of these little snippets one could share, but often they take place inside classroom or in short walks into gardens. They are, as they should be, authentic moments of learning away from the limelight and off the scripts of articles. They are where learning really takes place: In the minds of children (and adults).

Earth Week Next Week!

Over the past few weeks we've been busily working "behind the scenes" to ensure that things are happening for Earth Week, which starts this coming Saturday, April 19th. For a good overview of the the week please feel free to visit the page here. But here are some of the highlights parents should know about:

A Few Highlights for Parents:

• Saturday
• The 3rd Annual KDE Loop Clean Up will take place on Saturday, April 19th at 9:00 am. Meet in front of the KDE entrance.
• Community Recycling at the Ampang campus from 9:30 to 11:30 am
• Broga View Hike (carpooling) - Meet at the Ampang Guardhouse at 8am (Cost: RM 70 per person)
• Sunday
• Climbing for Everyone!  For novices, experts and everything in between. For the young and young at heart. For individuals and families alike! Join the HS Cliffhangers for a half day of hiking fun!  Bus leaves at 8 am from Ampang bus area and returned before 1 pm.
• Tuesday
• Earth Hour. Between 8:00 and 9:00 am we're turning off them electronics and heading outdoors (if weather permits)! 

Week-Long

• Ampang
• Bring your own water bottles (and dishes and utensils?). In an attempt to tackle our water shortage problems, and to avoid the waste of water (and hygiene problems) or waiting for water supply to be re-started, we're asking all our students to bring their own water bottes. Paper cups will not be provided during Earth Week. Besides, it's a good habit to have!
• MS Malaysia Week. They're going out into the wild... exactly where young kids should be. Braving the elements and enjoying what nature has to offer. Education. Fun. Engagement.
• Melawati: 
• Trash Free Week!  We invite everyone to participate in going trash-less for the week. Combine that with healthy, natural snakes and you've got a real winning combination!
• Stay away from plastic bags! Our Grade 4 "Service for the Better" group is promoting the elimination of plastic bags. Please do what you can to support this worth-while initiative. 

There's more, but this are the things that we thought parents should know about. We have special events for students and announcements and quizzes and the like. Again, if you'd like to take a closer look, look no further then here. 

Of course, the true conversations are ones that could (and should) be taking place at home.  With the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change just having released their latest report there is much to talk about!  

Have a safe, happy, wonderful and sustainable Earth Week!

JUMPing to New Heights

 

When the Environmental Coordinator position was initiated at ISKL the intent was to develop an ethos within our community to make positive change. Now nearly four years later we have made some significant inroads into the school's culture, but in doing so we are increasingly realizing that what we're doing, really, is allowing students to recognize their own power in affecting and inventing the future and, more precisely, making it a future they want to be part of. This element is increasingly transforming our efforts into an initiative to build capacity within our community and, in order to do that, build capacity within ourselves. Enter the JUMP Foundation, which visited ISKL's grade 4 last week.

The JUMP Foundation is an experiential education and development group that does a whole host of things - from one-day workshops to multi-day experiential excursions - aimed at empowering youth. Recently it has worked with the Global Issues Network (GIN) Conferences in the region with the specific task of developing leadership and facilitation skills in students running the GIN Conferences. 

Last week JUMP arrived with four educators and conducted three days worth of training. On day one they trained a number of teachers (largely grade 4) in facilitation and activities they would subsequently run with the students. Day two was a day largely revolving around the idea of community, teamwork and collaboration for students. Largely active and always challenging students were involved in a number of sessions whose primary focus was the understanding of personal attitudes and behaviors as well as inter-personal interactions and dynamics. Day three was focused on leadership and action planning in preparation for Grade 5 and their duties with the Red Hats program.

How does this relate to sustainability and service?  Well, JUMP has a diagram of a mountain range that they use to discuss the hierarchy of capacity building. The range begins with personal development, then moves to community engagement before finally reaching a global citizenship issue. It became evident during their visit that  while we started out with the idea of educating for sustainability, giving students the tools for personal empowerment, leadership development and action is a necessary and fundamental first step to affecting the future in positive ways. 

We have great hopes for JUMP returning to ISKL next year. We are hopeful they will work with the Green Council and other service leaders on campus as we move ever so steadily toward building global citizens from the ground up. 

ISKL Eco-Schools Mini Conference: Collaborating & Future Shaping

Collaboration is a big word at ISKL. We talk about it all the time. Student projects require it and teachers are often utilizing it to engage their students in an exceptional education. But though collaboration is essential to our educational being, it has been challenging to walk outside that font gate of apply it externally. 

This coming weekend our school's Green Council executive - which has grown in size lately from eight to 15 members - will be organizing it's first true outreach program. The ISKL Eco-Schools Mini Conference is a bit of a two-in-one idea with both teachers and students engaged in workshops, collaborative activities and "greenstorming" sessions. 

The idea is simple. Bring in delegations from around the city and ask them to share what they're doing. Then, walking them through a process called Pyramid 2030 (www.pyramid2030.net), our Green Council executive members will facilitiate a number of sessions of brainstorming (a.k.a. "greenstorming") that will focus on true collaboration between the schools. At the same time, the teachers will be involved in their own professional development of sorts, by participating in a teachers-facilitating-teachers session dealing with issues of administrative and organizational matters. 

By and large we hope that the half-day event will be powerful enough for the nine participating schools that we can make it an annual (or semi-annual) event. The idea is that students can do more when they are united. Can you envision our youth greening the Ampang and making it the "greenest" suburb of the Klang Valley?  How about students leading a movement to eliminate plastic bags from KL?  Or perhaps they can work with architects and planners to increase "green" building practices in schools around the country? The students can envision so much more than our adult minds can muster.

Students can truly shine if given that tools and opportunity to do so. We see it every day on our two campuses. Now it's time to let them shine in the community as well. If our future is to be a great one, let us give them the chances to exhibit decision-making and leadership here, now. 

Go on. Make the world a better place.