Melbourne Water Kids Teaching Kids Conference

On Monday 24th and Tuesday 25th of October a group of 8 enthusiastic MGC environment reps went to the Melbourne Water Kids Teaching Kids conference. The conference consisted of a series of workshops and performances from schools around Australia, with the idea of kids trying to teach other kids about whichever environmental issues they felt most passionately about. There were heaps of kids there, with students from over 60 different schools, both primary and secondary. It was a really fantastic opportunity to meet with like-minded students to discuss the environmental problems facing our society today and potential solutions to these. On the first day the workshops took place at Melbourne University.

We were split up from most of the students from our own schools and each sent to 4 different workshops run by students. I learnt about wedge-tailed eagles, water filtration and conservation, the different types of soil found in Australia and how to best look after it and the history of water management in Adelaide. The conference is primarily sponsored by Melbourne Water so there was quite a large focus on water throughout the workshops. On the second day the workshops were held at Collingwood Children's Farm and on this day we got to present our workshop to the other students. We had been working on it for the last few months and had even trialled it on fellow students back at MGC, so we were quite excited to try and extend our knowledge to everybody at the conference. The main focus of our workshop was alternative energy sources because we all knew how bad using coal power is for the environment and we wanted to spread the word about some other options. We brought along the bikes and turbines we use for the pedal powered cinema and showed the other students how we use them to generate electricity in our school. We also brought along one of our solar panels to teach them about the pros and cons of solar power. I think our workshop was quite successful and all the students (and some teachers) really seemed to enjoy having a go on the bikes to power the PA system they set up down at the farm. Overall, I think we all really enjoyed the conference and are all super grateful to Mr Vance and the organisers of KTK for this awesome experience.

Sarah Kinch

Help Power this School

with Living Energy

Do you have what it takes to help Melbourne Girls’ College become carbon neutral by 2020? This scholarship could be for you!

- Do you have an idea that will help the school reduce its carbon footprint?

- Do you want to learn real-life project proposal writing and management skills (under the guidance of industry mentors)?

- Do you love engaging others in your vision for the future?

Living Energy, a solar installer, is announcing an annual scholarship prize. One student, class, group, year, etc. will be awarded $1000 to make their project dream a reality. Melbourne Girls' College is excited to take part in this sustainability initiative.

But there’s a catch.

The winning project must meet the following criteria:

1. Have a strategy to help MGC be a more sustainable school and hopefully contribute to achieving its goal of carbon neutrality by 2020. Projects may include ideas to improve our biodiversity, save water and energy or to reduce our waste.

2. Have a plan, timeline and budget to implement the project and measure its results.

3. Demonstrate creative thinking when it comes to promoting the project, sharing learning and engaging multiple skill sets (eg. science and art, or engineering and digital media)

Be the change you want to see in the world – the future starts today!

Project applications open on 2nd November. Submissions can be submitted individually or as a team. Only open to current MGC Students.

Project idea submissions close on: November 25th

Winner(s) announced: Early 2017

Contact Mr Andrew Vance or any student member of the Environment Team for more information.

Email: solar@mgc.vic.edu.au