A very special guest popped in for breakfast with the delegates this morning – George Washington! He gave an overview of the morning’s activity: a Race through History with a National Treasure Scavenger Hunt at the United States National Mall. Each delegation group boarded buses in the rain and headed to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, looking over the set of clues and developing a strategy. Each clue was assigned a certain number of points and the team who collected the most at the end of two hours would be declared the winner.
Delegation Group #8 in front of the Washington Monument
The delegation groups got slightly soaked while dashing around sites such as the Washington Monument and various Smithsonian museums, picking up a bit more knowledge on the way. No one was late for the deadline back at the Air and Space Museum, and it was back on the bus to head to lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe. George Washington joined the delegates again, leading the crowd in the YMCA before announcing the winner of the scavenger hunt – Delegation Group #13. Prizes were handed out before leaving and the bus took a scenic route past the White House, the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery on the way back to the hotel.
Delegation session three was held in the afternoon, and students worked to define and discuss sustainability and its three components: economy, environment and society. Conversation centered on the question of how to balance the needs of people with a need to protect the environment and have a vibrant and equitable economy at the same time.
PTPI’s Secaucus, New Jersey (GIFT) Student Chapter President Chantal Lopez introduced the evening’s speaker, Simran Sethi, after dinner. Sethi is an award winning journalist who is currently teaching courses on sustainability and environmental communications at the University of Kansas. Stacey Chance, Director of Publications at PTPI took a course from Sethi and recommended that she speak to the GYF delegates if possible. Thanks to Stacey for the suggestion – the presentation was fantastic.
Simran Sethi speaks with students after her presentation
Sethi first asked the delegates to consider what “going green” means to them, and asked them to think about what sustains them. She expressed that an individual’s answer for how to define sustainability is within the individual. She went on to urge the students to consider each of their actions: what they are buying, the choices they are making and what they could reduce, because throwing something away does not mean that they are truly going away – they are going somewhere. She illustrated the point by mentioning the fact that male fish are hatching eggs in the Potomac River as a result of what is entering the water. Her words opened many eyes and also encouraged each student to start thinking about their passion and how it could be applied to sustainability; that businesses are now thinking about how to create sustainable, cradle to cradle cycles and there are many opportunities for youth to get involved.
