Hi, my name is Kerry-Ann and I am a grade 12 student at Northview Heights SS. For about a year and a half I have been on a council called STEP (Students of Toronto for Environmental Success) and was one of the people who made and organized the ‘Step2Action’ symposium. I think it went well if I do day so myself and through the contacts I made during this experience I started as a co-op student at the Toronto Renewable Energy Co-operative.
Last week I had the opportunity to spend my co-op hours at the Kid’s World of Energy Festival, a four day event organized by TREC. The festival involved over fifty high school volunteers running workshops for the one thousand grade 5 students who arrived daily. Because my co-op hours are in the afternoon, I came to the festival about half an hour before its official end time for the students.
On the first day of the festival, May 12th, I was assigned to tent sixteen, which housed the Earth Rangers. They are a charitable organization that combines kids’ passion for animals and the environment to motivate children and push for change.
It was awesome working with them because they actually brought live animals to their presentations. For all 4 days of the festival they brought a barn owl, and endangered species in Ontario, and talked about the direct effects that the children had on their natural habitat. They also brought an African Ball Snake and another smaller garden snake that is local to Ontario. The fact that they brought the animals they were telling the children about made a big impression and really strengthened the Earth Rangers’ message.
On the Thursday night of that week, May 14th, it rained in the morning and a fierce wind started to blow by the afternoon. The festival was going to happen rain or shine so the grade five students still came. By the afternoon the flaps of the tents started to blow and it eventually became a question of the tents being unsafe. All the volunteers, and organizers, started running around to make the tents safe. We ended up taking the side flaps off two big the tents so the wind could blow through; while some of the smaller tents had to have their tops taken off altogether.
All in all the Kids World of Energy Festival was a success and for me, a once in a life time opportunity. I am glad that I’m doing my co-op with TREC and its not even over yet!
