Sparking dialogue across districts: A sustainability conference for teachers and students

Photos provided by Nichelle Penney.

By Nichelle Penney (she/they), teacher, Kamloops

Sustainable development is not just a catchphrase or a current fad in our world; it is a way of living that helps advance policy development to create long-lasting change for future generations. As a teacher, I am continually examining new ways to bring sustainable development goal (SDG) conversations into my classroom in an organic way—a way that engages students beyond our lesson and into their personal and social lives as well.

SDGs are a global call to action for all countries to end poverty, improve health and education, reduce inequality, and promote economic growth all while protecting the environment. The goals are intertwined, interrelated, and multifaceted. Personal recycling is a good process to help protect the environment, but we also have to look beyond ourselves and determine how major companies and government bodies can be held to task on creating a better, sustainable future for all. Teachers and students can bring awareness to actions that can be taken on the personal, social, and policy levels of our society.

Last school year, I used my understanding of SDGs to organize a Sustainable Development Conference that engaged teachers and students in a wider conversation, leading to collaboration and action-planning within schools and between schools. It brought in presenters from Vancouver, Kamloops, Edmonton, and as far away as Nova Scotia, who encouraged students to engage with the topics and challenged them to go beyond the “right here, right now” mentality.

I applied for a BCTF Provincial Social Justice Grant for a zone-wide conference, and  here’s how things came together: At the Okanagan Fall 2024 Zone Meeting, we (social justice contacts) discussed the grants available to teachers to promote equity and inclusion on various fronts, including the Regional Social Justice Grant. It brought back memories from previous zone meetings where we would often discuss ways to engage the Okanagan Zone area, but those conversations never took hold beyond those meetings. Because of my classroom and provincial work, I was already thinking about the Local Social Justice Grant as a way to engage students and teachers in my own local, so why not take it a step further and bring it to the zone level?

The first step was the easiest—applying for the grant. I invited the other social justice contacts and Committee for Action on Social Justice representatives to contribute to the application and submitted it by the beginning of December. By mid-January, I was informed that the application was successful and I could begin planning. The next four months were chaotic, exciting, stressful, and rewarding.

My local was able to give me three half-day release times to plan and organize the conference. Kelowna was agreed upon, at the zone meeting, as the city for the conference because of its central location within the zone, allowing for more equitable participation. UBC Okanagan was a natural selection from there: summer session had already begun for the university, accommodations were available for presenters, and all rooms were already equipped with the required technology. The main conference room for the opening session had a maximum capacity of 400 people, which set the tone for the rest of my planning.

Now that the location was selected, I was able to reach out to individuals who may be interested in presenting. Through my work as a UNESCO co-ordinator, I had made many connect-ions: Martha Solomon from the BC Office of the Human Rights Commissioner, Jess LeBlanc from Finance Engage Sustain, Rebecca Moon from The Centre for Global Education, David Zandvliet, UNESCO Chair in Biocultural Diversity and Education from Simon Fraser University, Laura Myers from Learning for a Sustainable Future, Susan Hall from BC UNESCO Associated  Schools Network, among others. It was overwhelming to see how much support there was, as everyone I had reached out to was enthusiastic. While Laura Myers presented via Zoom (it was not cost-effective to fly in from Nova Scotia), all other presenters were in person. This was all the easy planning.

“What struck me the most about this amazing event was how the conversations held in sessions spilled out into the spaces between sessions. There was a genuine sense of wonder that fueled a desire for participants to learn more and to share their ideas." – Susan Hall, conference participant

The more challenging planning included advertising, registration, transportation, room designations, catering, accommodations, name tags, and thank-you gifts. Thankfully, Stacey Kemp was able to organize catering from Princess Margaret Secondary School in Penticton, which included vegetarian and gluten-free options. Aurey Harris, from Kelowna, was able to purchase thank-you gifts for presenters and prizes for participants.

I used Canva to create a booklet of information, and Eventbrite for the registration process. There were challenges with both: the booklet had to be emailed out several times, and the registration link did not always work. I was trying to field questions and provide tech support all while teaching three classes a day. My original intention was to create a website where all the information could be found at a click; however, I just did not have enough time, nor support, to be able to accomplish that.

When I proposed the idea of the conference and filled out the application, I did so with the knowledge that teachers in my zone, just like teachers around the province, are overwhelmed with various aspects, and some were new to the union role. I was straightforward in that I would love help from other people but was moving ahead with the understanding that I would be doing most, if not all, of the planning and execution solo.

Although the conference did not have as much participation as I hoped, it was a rewarding process and outcome. Ultimately, there were roughly 150 students and 15 teachers who attended from Revelstoke, Kamloops, Penticton, Kelowna, and the North Okanagan-Shuswap, for a total of eight different sessions: two specifically for teachers, and six specifically for students. The feedback I received was positive from all sides, and students left re-energized with new conversations they wanted to have back in their schools.

Susan Hall remarked, “What struck me the most about this amazing event was how the conversations held in sessions spilled out into the spaces between sessions. There was a genuine sense of wonder that fueled a desire for participants to learn more and to share their ideas. In-person gatherings like this present a unique opportunity for our students to test-drive their ideas.”

I was grateful for the presenters, the students, and the teachers who attended, and to all those who engaged in sustainable conversations afterward. My feedback to anyone interested in applying for the grant in the future: start planning now. The application is only available every second year but start planning before it’s released so that you are not trying to do it all in a compressed amount of time. The grant can enable you to inspire students and teachers alike through meaningful dialogue, learning, and connection.