60 Trees for Curitiba!

The Academy that happened on May 15 was attended by 58 kids from Escola Municipal Jornalista Arnaldo Alvez da Cruz. At first, us, as producers and organizers, welcomed the students and instigated them for what was to come. As a way to start interacting with the children, we proposed the icebreaker "repeat the name", so that even thought they were with name tags, it would get easier to assimilate their names. After that we had a conversation about sustainability. The talk went fine and then we told them that once they came back from the break we would play a game.

We set out the World Game, splitting them into four groups with one volunteer responsible for each one, the game went well, the dynamic was pretty good and the result was positive.

In rhetorical training, we told the children to sit on the floor and explained them what a good presentation is like, as well as tips for a nice feedback without being uncomfortable for the one who is receiving it. We split them into groups of 3 and 4 students and gave each one three slides of the Academy presentation, a piece of brown paper and a pen so they could write, that way, it was easier for them to do the presentation later.

The lunch sign rang and after they sat down to eat, we, volunteers and coordinators went to the room we were before so we could eat, rest for a while and talk about the students who had stood out so we could separate them for the presentation.

After lunch we went straight to the creation of the projects for their school, once we had debated with them about the World Café issues before playing the World Game they already had lots of ideas on what to do.

Then, we got the whole group together again to make the presentation of the projects, the teachers who were at the classroom loved it. The projects were almost all about the need for more recyclable garbage at school and that they couldn’t let people throw garbage on the floor. Sometimes we remind them the idea that, in on our planet, there is no "outside" and then, that it would be interesting to reduce the amount of garbage.

Finally, we asked them if they liked the day and the activities, and they answered us together with a loud and clear: yes! We further reinforced that they were now ready to receive their Certificates of Climate Justice Ambassadors, but with that, would also come the responsibility to assert the projects and to help our planet. We reinforced that to change the world we have to start changing our own attitude and that now, as they accept this title their commitment is even bigger, they agreed that the would do their obligations.

We handed them the certificates and they were super proud of themselves, the principal and the pedagogue that were there loved everything that happened and were very content to the next ones.

We had off to the outside of the school where we were going to plant and separated them in groups of 4, we had 60 seedlings, so everyone planted at least one.

Before we started the activity, we explained to everyone how to plant, we even warned the kids the planting that the plants needed to be cared for, to be well treated in order to grow strong.

When the activity was over, we asked everyone to come together so we could give the last recommendations and say good-bye. They assured us that they would take care and cultivate their seedlings and we asked if we surprised them, by visiting the school, we would see the trees alive and beautiful, and they said yes. So, we said goodbye and took our last photo together, and then, we left.

Everything was incredible! We are already looking forward to the next one!

Do you want to become a Climate Justice Ambassador? Enrol now for the next Academy in your area!

You can find photos of the Academy here.