A royal audience didn’t faze the Grade 5 students at Pickering College’s public speaking event billed as the My Key Idea project.
With a confidence that belies their young age, the 19 students who attend Newmarket’s private day and boarding school spoke about local and global issues that matter most to them, as special guest Ontario Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell sat front and centre.
Dowdeswell attended the May 16 ceremony and presented the students with keys that signified their successful completion of the junior school’s global leadership program.
The program culminates with individual presentations by the Grade 5 students, who chose a topic of personal interest, conduct research, and then write a report, produce a podcast and, ultimately, deliver a speech in front of peers, family and the school community.
“I’m really excited to be here and I’m so inspired by the global leadership program because I’ve spent a number of years working with the United Nations, and I know through UNESCO, of which you are privileged to be designated a part of, I have a sense of how much we can learn from other parts of the world,” Dowdeswell told the students. “And as you already discovered, we’re much more alike than we are different. And that’s an important lesson for all of us because we are, essentially, an interdependent world right now.”
The Pickering College students visited Dowdeswell earlier this year at Queen’s Park to take a tour of the Legislature and chat with the viceregal representative of Queen Elizabeth II.
Some themes the students learned about included ideas around sustainability as it relates to inclusive economic prosperity, environmental stewardship and social cohesion.
“When I looked through the list of (speech) topics, I was impressed to see you covered so many of the goals, and not only topics that are about environmental stewardship, but topics related to social justice,” Dowdeswell said. “Those are all things that are going to be so important as you grow up and learn to navigate this world.”
Dowdeswell shared with the students that sometimes, adults don’t pay enough attention to young people.
“Sometimes the really critical questions come from young people, and I think you bring a special perspective that, in many ways, are much more connected and open to new ideas than some of us adults,” she said.
Some themes students tackled in their research projects include gender equality in youth sports, plastic in the ocean, the dangers of space debris, access to life-saving medications in developing countries, the nuclear proliferation threat and more.
Newmarket student Meghan Kereakou kicked off the public speaking event with her speech, Saving the Amazon Rainforest.
“Take a deep breath in, now then, most of us take for granted the fact that we have two well-working lungs. Imagine, one day, one of your lungs fails and you only have one lung left, you could still live but your quality of life would be reduced. Our world is losing one of its lungs, the Amazon Rainforest,” Kereakou said.
For student Dylan Powell, ocean pollution and marine species loss are a concern.
“Groundwater is one of our most important natural resources,” Powell said. “If we pollute it, we are endangering the only freshwater source for many people in the world.”
Student Jason Roy-DiClemente said the most interesting thing he learned from researching the effects of climate change is that “a lot of ice in Antarctica is melting”.
“Climate change is the most serious problem facing us,” he said.
Leah Pataran, meanwhile, dug into a social justice issue that she believes is unfair.
“Girls and boys should have equal opportunity to be on sports teams together, if they want,” Pataran said of gender equality in youth sports. “There isn’t enough fairness in sports for kids.”
Sam Walker explored the topic of how microbeads affect human health and, he said, the good news is that many countries have started to ban the use of microbeads, a small piece of plastic found in many products from cosmetics to detergent.
“Microbeads harm the environment and cause sickness in people,” he said. “We can take more action, like protesting, so countries will continue to ban them.”
To learn more about Pickering College, visit here.