Eva Grovaerts, Grade 10
UWC Thailand
As every UWC student should know by now, a central aspect of the UWC mission is to work together for a sustainable future. We all have stories on how we have helped the environment or what we plan to do to save our planet. Personally, I have always tried to motivate both my friends and myself to do more for the environment. This was very challenging at times because of the community I was in and their tunnelled views about climate change. My commitment to helping the environment was by becoming vegetarian and skipping school three times to go to multiple climate marches in Brussels. I was also initiating open discussions about climate change in and outside the classroom, but my previous school didn’t like my open opinion a lot. In becoming a part of the family at UWC Thailand, my views and I were openly welcomed in the community and openly discussed instead of being swept aside. Through UWCT, I have finally been able to discuss my thoughts about climate change without being called a ‘hippie’. This was a revelation for me, and I hope to pass on this UWC mindset to new students from around the world.
In the spring of 2019, a group of Belgian teenagers inspired by Greta Thunberg started a climate action group called Youth for Climate. They organized multiple climate marches in Brussels, and kids from all over Belgium joined. These marches were either on a Thursday, meaning we had to skip school, or on a Sunday. I had skipped school twice to participate, but my school only believed I joined to have a day off and that the marches wouldn’t convince the government to help prevent climate change. My friend group decided that we were going to prove them wrong by going to every climate march on a Sunday for a whole month. Unfortunately, this still didn’t convince my peers at school that I actually wanted to fight for the future of my generation. They didn’t want to accept my views because it went against their historical perception and swept aside my different opinion. Being in a very traditional boarding school and choosing to be vegetarian wasn’t an easy task. Since I was one of the only students following this diet, the kitchen didn’t give me many options to replace meat. I got laughed at many times for entering the canteen with tofu instead of steak. It was hard to persevere with my opinions. Luckily, I had the support of childhood friends that shared the same views as me and gave me the strength to be determined.
When looking to apply to a UWC school, one of the main things that stood out to me was that students had open discussions about climate change and a lot of actions that the school took to minimize the effects they had on the environment were student-led. At first, it seemed too good to be true, considering my past experience with openly sharing my opinions. Yet, as early as orientation week, I saw all of the activities that helped start discussions within our community about recent topics. For example, every Thursday, the boarders are free to join Thursday Though Night where we discuss and share our opinions on a different topic every week. On the other hand, at the beginning of the year, each boarder is assigned a Family Group in which we strive to create a home atmosphere supervised by a mentor. Each Family Group comes together once a week where we discuss upcoming activities, share our emotions, or just have a conversation. What stood out to me in my Family Group, is that the mentor encouraged everyone to share their opinions on every topic, even if it went against the school’s general philosophy. Everyone’s views are equally appreciated in every conversation that we have at UWCT. All of these different activities were really eye-opening to me, and other students that were new felt the same way.
During my time at an old-fashioned boarding school, I was inspired to join climate marches and to share my opinions on climate change. My views were swept aside/dismissed, and I thought I would never be able to openly discuss a topic like global warming without being judged. In joining the UWC community, this totally changed for me. UWCT has encouraged me to share every one of my opinions and to have a proper discussion with my peers while considering everyone’s opinions and backgrounds. I hope to pass on this mindset to all the new students joining our community.
In the spring of 2019, a group of Belgian teenagers inspired by Greta Thunberg started a climate action group called Youth for Climate. They organized multiple climate marches in Brussels, and kids from all over Belgium joined. These marches were either on a Thursday, meaning we had to skip school, or on a Sunday. I had skipped school twice to participate, but my school only believed I joined to have a day off and that the marches wouldn’t convince the government to help prevent climate change. My friend group decided that we were going to prove them wrong by going to every climate march on a Sunday for a whole month. Unfortunately, this still didn’t convince my peers at school that I actually wanted to fight for the future of my generation. They didn’t want to accept my views because it went against their historical perception and swept aside my different opinion. Being in a very traditional boarding school and choosing to be vegetarian wasn’t an easy task. Since I was one of the only students following this diet, the kitchen didn’t give me many options to replace meat. I got laughed at many times for entering the canteen with tofu instead of steak. It was hard to persevere with my opinions. Luckily, I had the support of childhood friends that shared the same views as me and gave me the strength to be determined.
When looking to apply to a UWC school, one of the main things that stood out to me was that students had open discussions about climate change and a lot of actions that the school took to minimize the effects they had on the environment were student-led. At first, it seemed too good to be true, considering my past experience with openly sharing my opinions. Yet, as early as orientation week, I saw all of the activities that helped start discussions within our community about recent topics. For example, every Thursday, the boarders are free to join Thursday Though Night where we discuss and share our opinions on a different topic every week. On the other hand, at the beginning of the year, each boarder is assigned a Family Group in which we strive to create a home atmosphere supervised by a mentor. Each Family Group comes together once a week where we discuss upcoming activities, share our emotions, or just have a conversation. What stood out to me in my Family Group, is that the mentor encouraged everyone to share their opinions on every topic, even if it went against the school’s general philosophy. Everyone’s views are equally appreciated in every conversation that we have at UWCT. All of these different activities were really eye-opening to me, and other students that were new felt the same way.
During my time at an old-fashioned boarding school, I was inspired to join climate marches and to share my opinions on climate change. My views were swept aside/dismissed, and I thought I would never be able to openly discuss a topic like global warming without being judged. In joining the UWC community, this totally changed for me. UWCT has encouraged me to share every one of my opinions and to have a proper discussion with my peers while considering everyone’s opinions and backgrounds. I hope to pass on this mindset to all the new students joining our community.
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