{"id":1768,"date":"2018-03-13T02:05:13","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T06:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/?p=1768"},"modified":"2018-03-13T02:07:00","modified_gmt":"2018-03-13T06:07:00","slug":"students-leading-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dawsoncollege.qc.ca\/sustainable-campuses\/institutional-collaboration\/students-leading-the-way\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Leading the Way!"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Sarah Cartier (Dawson College) Version en espanol sigue<\/p>\n

Today I was surrounded by students, teachers and administrators who care about Nature, who understand that well-being for all is a principle to be upheld and who are experts in the field of collaborative learning and project development. I had the joy of being part of the Dawson College team who has been invited to participate in collective research and shared learning as part of the 4th Forum on Sustainable Campuses in beautiful Morelos, Mexico.
\nI was very excited about today because I had never visiting the campus of UPN Galeana before. Also, the students are studying in a program called Educational Intervention which is a mix of my 2 passions: education and community leadership. I knew that I would be able to relate to them, having studied and currently working in both of those fields myself so I was really looking forward to meeting the students and seeing what projects they were leading. I had heard that the school had suffered after the earthquake that struck last fall and that students and staff had been working hard to repair some of the damaged areas.
\nToday, 2 days before the Forum has even officially started, we made our way to the beautiful campus of UPN Galeana as invited guests. Our team was made up of: Gisela Frias, Coordinator of the Sustainable Campuses Initiative , Chris Adam Coordinator of Sustainability, Petya Yordanova, 3rd year CRLT student who is completing her 450 final internship, Paulina Moguel, coordinator of the Sustainable Campuses Initiative in Mexico and member of Ciudades Verdes (ENGO) and myself representing as Co-Chairperson and Program Coordinator and faculty of CRLT. Our first order of business was to go back to our roots and become students again. We joined the 4th semester students in one of their classrooms for a bilingual (English and Spanish) welcome by Alexjandro and Sarai, 2 students who are obviously passionate about what they are doing as community leaders and future teachers. Taking up the torch of their caring and sweet teacher, Gloria Rodriguez Sanchez, they kindly gave us a preview of the wonderful campus initiatives that they are leading.
\nAs a teacher in the Community Recreation Leadership Training (CRLT) program, I help our students learn how to plan, implement and evaluate various programs, initiatives and activities. I have to say, the students that I met today would fit in very well in the CRLT program as they showed wonderful skills in problem solving, team work and creativity.
\nOur first stop after the presentation by the students and welcome by the Director of the school Beatriz Lim\u00f2n Guti\u00e9rrez was a beautiful mural created not just for the students but for the community to enjoy as well. It was not only beautiful to look at but also hearing the students who led the project and the main artist (who happens to be the brother of one of the students) describe what the meanings were behind the images and what it meant to them to have an opportunity to plan and implement such a meaningful project brought happy tears to my eyes.
\nAfter being served a delicious homemade lunch and desserts in the main outdoor area, we started wandering over to the \u201cJardin del Estanque\u201d. It naturally attracts you with its large trees, seating areas, quaint decor and fish pond. It was so relaxing to enjoy the shade, to sit on the homemade benches and to listen to more students share their experience in re-building the area to make it safe and comfortable after being damaged by the earthquake.
\nOur final outdoor spot of the day was the \u201cJardin por la Salud\u201d which is a wonderful medicinal garden inspired by the local plants and the knowledge passed on to the students by their grandparents and elders. The students here shared their favorite parts of the garden by introducing the 30+ varieties of herbs, flowers and plants as well as their helpful properties. Smelling the mint and eucalyptus as well as the other plants make it a rich sensory experience for all of us. My hope is that we can have as an extensive collection of beneficial plants growing at Dawson one day.
\nThe day ended with a few more students sharing their experiences in planning and implementing their sustainable projects. It was wonderful for me to hear about the fact that they were given class time to build the pond and garden, to paint the mural and to upkeep the medicinal plants.
\nBefore leaving, we challenged Beatrix to give up her large garbage can in favor of a tiny desktop one. All the students applauded as she accepted the challenge to be mindful about the amount of garbage that she produces on a daily basis. It was lovely to see administration supporting the efforts of the students to make the world a better place, one small step at a time.
\nIt was also very sweet to see the students\u2019 affection for Petya who had visited the campus a few weeks before when she had led a few activities as well as presented her projects to them. It was quite impressive to hear Petya speaking and answering questions in Spanish. Her 5 week internship in Mexico has really made her more fluent in her 5th (!) language!
\nI was so impressed with the students and their teacher\u2019s commitment to creating a better campus, community and planet. The new strategic plan of Dawson College includes the values of: Excellence, Collaboration, Well-Being for all, Innovation and Creativity and today we saw all of those values personified. I cannot wait to see what we try back at Dawson upon our return!<\/p>\n

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