UC Merced students headed to sustainability conference
Three UC Merced students will share sustainability ideas and network with international students and dignitaries at the upcoming session of the Clinton Global Initiative University, officials announced Monday.
Hoaithi Dang, Adriana Gomez and Gabriel Morabe are three of 1,000 college students selected from around the globe to take part in a weekend filled with seminars and innovation sessions at UC Berkeley in April, hosted by former President Bill Clinton.
The former president launched the university in 2007. Each year, it hosts a meeting where students, university representatives, topic experts and celebrities come together to discuss and develop innovative solutions to pressing global challenges.
About $2 million supports the more than 5,500 student efforts made since 2008.
We hope to inspire a new generation of engaged and environmentally literate leaders. We believe that youth leaders can create a domino effect of positive social change for a better world.
An excerpt from the students’ proposal
The UC Merced students also are involved with two of University of California President Janet Napolitano’s sustainability initiatives. Morabe and Gomez are in their second year as UC Merced’s Carbon Neutrality fellows, and Dang is in his second year as the campus’s Global Food Initiative fellow.
“CGI U is about students coming up with innovative solutions to better the world,” Dang said in a news release. “We want to leverage our knowledge to inspire the next generation to become sustainability leaders.”
The San Joaquin Valley’s connection to agriculture makes it dependent on climate for its survival, Gomez noted, but climate sustainability is important everywhere.
“We hope to inspire a new generation of engaged and environmentally literate leaders,” the students wrote in their proposal. “We believe that youth leaders can create a domino effect of positive social change for a better world.”
By working with the Merced County Office of Education and creating a network of college-student mentors, the students hope to help address some of the Valley’s educational issues.
This is a well-deserved opportunity for three students who have demonstrated strong sustainability leadership skills.
UC Merced Sustainability Director Colleen McCormick
While their basic proposal does not require funding, Dang, Morabe and Gomez said they want to create engaging, interactive science kits for schoolchildren and develop hands-on activities that will spark imaginations.
“This is a well-deserved opportunity for three students who have demonstrated strong sustainability leadership skills,” campus Sustainability Director Colleen McCormick said, in a news release. “I know they will use this opportunity to its fullest extent as a means to catapult their ideas and project.”
Gomez said she is looking forward to meeting other participants.
“Some of these students have already formed their own nonprofits,” Morabe said, in a news release. “They are really amazing, and I hope to learn from all the like-minded individuals so I can then help mentor students in the Merced community.”
This story was originally published February 22, 2016 at 11:58 AM with the headline "UC Merced students headed to sustainability conference."