Gabriela Waddell-Rodriguez, Youth Press Team 2023

This year at the 12th annual NY Sun Works Youth Conference there was a common theme of reducing waste and concluding daily sustainable problems. 

Many stepped up and explained their project, shared their passion for the topic and eventually stated the solution. For instance, Sophia B, Aedan D, Owen P-F, Alexandra P, and Yangmo T, 5th graders from Manhattan School for Children opened up about their project, they explained that since only 3% of water is good to drink it was important to them to share about their rainwater catchment project and how they made it.

For many it was difficult like for Samir H, and Roman N who studied air quality in different school environments, for them staying consistent while conducting their experiment was a challenge. But in the end their research paid off and were able to come to a conclusion that air quality wasn’t the greatest danger. 

Among others, Victoria P and Valentina W, from Brooklyn Tech High School shared their creative project about the benefits of vermicomposting in hydroponics and how this can lead to saving money and a perfect solution to farming.

All in all many inspiring voices stepped up and conquered the challenge as Jerri Taylor, an inspiring guest speaker at the conference shared about diversifying the voices of tomorrow and how most of the agriculture in the US was started by a mix of different races. She wants to inspire others to go into that field and to be the change they want to see in the world. Well, in my opinion, everyone who shared their projects in the conference has great potential to change the world’s sustainable future.