Environment Expo 2021
The second annual Environment 2021 was run over Monday and Tuesday of Week 9. After the success of last year’s expo, run by a small group of dedicated students, this year’s expo had a lot to live up to. Unsurprisingly, the expo was a great success. It’s hard to know exactly how many students attended the expo but we estimate around 400 students came through to have a look around.
The Bush Ranger Cadets put in a great deal of hard work to research, plan and build displays all of which was completed during Bush Ranger meetings, during recess and lunch, and at home. They were all exhausted after packing up at the end of the expo but looked like they enjoyed the experience.
We were lucky to have support from the Year 10 Active Volunteering class, many of whom came to help out set up, run stalls during the day, take photos and pack up at the end. Their help was greatly appreciated.
To sum up the expo we had a number of students submit anonymous feedback. Here’s a selection of the comments from organisers and visitors.
“Despite the many hours of repeating the same activity, some student interactions made it worth the effort. Climate change is a major environmental issue. It’s important to check in and inform our younger individuals of society and help them become more aware. I’m glad I could help in this process.”
“I thought the expo was good because there were a lot of stats to inform people about things in the environment.”
“It was fun to make the displays and run the expo. I also liked the hand puppets”
“The sustainability section of the expo had 5 posters and two fun interactives. You could do a kahoot based on the information in the posters then sort out rubbish from different recyclable materials to get a stamp.”
“I found out that people don’t know how to use their bins. A few people came back to the rubbish sorting. Some didn’t listen when we were telling them what they did wrong in the sorting. Hopefully they think about it at home.”
“It was great having all our hard work pay off. The students positively engaged with us and many of them showed genuine interest in what we had to say. I have learned how to pose questions that the students could engage with and relate to in their everyday lives.”
“My friends and I made a poster in class and I was shocked to see the poster was on display at the expo! I know Sir mentioned it would happen but it feels great knowing something I did was looked at by so many people.”
“I had so much fun working at the expo. It was hard work, but I felt it was worth doing. It was great talking with other students about the different issues and what they can do to help.”
“Loved the Instagram photobooth! Was awesome talking to the students running the stalls.”
“I was surprised how well the expo went. The students at each display really seemed to know what they were talking about and were excited to talk to me.”
