Students across the San Mateo Union High School District (SMUHSD) convened at the Environmental Youth Leadership Summit on Saturday, Nov. 15. Hosted by the county’s Office of Education, participants learned from professionals working in the environmental field and discussed ways youth can fight climate change.

The event began with three speakers: senior Collin Chu from The Nueva School, Vanessa Shin, an Associate Manager of Community Relations at Peninsula Clean Energy, and Dave Fork, a Renewable Energy Technologist at Google. Together, the speakers highlighted the importance of leveraging this event and building a supportive, interactive community in the environmental industry.

Chu said he is grateful for the opportunity to help students and inspire youth to take advantage of every opportunity they can get. In his speech, he identified two main ways students can contribute to their local environment.

“The first is how youth can adapt to challenges and setbacks by coming out even stronger, and the second one is to kind of just be involved, get things done,” Chu said. “People tell you that you’re too young or it’s too early to get started, like youth are the future of our society, and they can do whatever they want to if they set their mind to it.”

In her speech, Shin discussed her job at Peninsula Clean Energy. She said her goal is to help students pursue their environmental passions without the pressure of having to make a difference immediately.

“While I believe that youth have a really important role to play, it’s not all on them. It’s not all on today’s middle school students and high school students,” Shin said. “And so it’s really important for me to show ways that our community is already taking action and the ways that adults are taking a leadership stance on climate in the county.”

As the cofounder of Silicon Valley Bike Exchange, Fork discussed the different accessible ways anyone can minimize their carbon footprint. He said he felt inspired and grateful to have the opportunity to talk to motivated students.

“I am so hopeful when I am in a room full of people like yourself. I’ll be honest with you, it can be depressing when I think about the type of world that people from my generation are handing over to people in your generation, and I would like to do everything I can,” Fork said. “In fact, I feel a moral obligation to do everything I can to help make the world a better place for you and your followers.”

Sophomore Blake Leong described the speeches as motivational for students who want to pursue environmental advocacy.

“I like Dave Fork. That’s one of the best speeches I’ve heard in a long time. And it could be meaningful for a lot of people,” Leong said.

After the speeches, students split into different breakout groups and rooms including “Green Teams and Environmental Club,” “Lagoon Exploration,” and “Green Career.” With a total of two sessions, students explored a variety of youth-led presentations and games on how to instill change as youth.

Allison Oh, a junior at Crystal Springs Uplands School, helped plan the event and also spoke in some of the sessions.

“I collaborated with this group called Anamatangi Youth, and a few politicians and educators, and basically we talked about how important it is to take action, how we can take action,” Oh said. “And basically my part was about climate anxiety, like I said before, and I was just increasing awareness that climate anxiety is a natural response to the climate crisis and the lack of action being taken, and also provided some resources to help alleviate climate anxiety.”

To end the night, student organizers and Anamatangi Polynesian Voices, an organization meant for empowering Polynesians and helping out the community, led an interactive session that included icebreakers, discussing taking action, and a panel.

Shin explained that events where students can converse and find ways to take initiative are very important, especially when it comes to environmental issues.

“I feel that with climate work, it’s so challenging and difficult, and it can really help to find others that have those shared values and shared goals, and build a community and see each other as friends and fellow humans in his work,” Shin said. “And so I love that everyone’s coming together and really centering around solutions.”