Excitement is growing as we continue to plan and there were 19 people at the latest meeting.
The first hike will be to Ehden Preserve on Sunday, March 26, moved one week so it will not interfere with exams in some schools.
Earth Day activities will be focused on Saturday, April 29 because April 22 is Easter weekend. We will initiate national awareness actions and campaigns that schools across the country can unify behind and participate in to promote NO SMOKING INDOORS. This project will be presented at the YouthCaN conference but activities will continue throughout the year.
Valley International School (VIS) has decided their local river clean-up day will be held Friday, March 31. The river along their school has become polluted and they want to clean it, but a similar campaign was undertaken three years ago and now the river is again in need of a clean-up initiative. To combat this, the other key aspect of their YouthCaN project is going to focus on awareness. This information campaign will help everyone at their school understand the impact they are having on the river and how to maintain it once the cleaning has taken place.
The Hajj Bahaa School Ecology Club is hosting a seminar on bird flu and its impact on our food and eating habits. It will be held Friday, March 10 at the Bahaa Hariri Complex in Saida from 10:00 to 1:00 and everyone is invited to attend.
Moving on to conference planning, we outlined plans for the opening including a video presentation, speeches and a skit. These activities will each be coordinated by different schools and students. The skit is building on the internationally selected YouthCaN logo, which is a crystal ball, and will feature a fortune teller looking into the future of the earth. We also began planning the closing ceremony, which will hopefully include a presentation, awarding of certificates, announcements and a folk dance.
Videoconferences with Egypt and the U.S. will also be a part of this year’s conference and we discussed designing a combined activity with students in New York that students can discuss during the live videoconference. Topic ideas for this will be discussed at the next meeting.
I have also designed and distributed registration forms for the conference, which for the first time will be all electronically submitted. This will make the process much easier and save trees too!
Saving the *fun* for last, we also voted on the eight T-shirt designs that were submitted. The winning logo is this one….
And our next meeting is March 23!