An amazing opportunity for the children to learn about sustainability, what it is and how important it is!  #SfT

Focusing on the future- this is Skills for Tomorrow!

A great variety of organisations joined us today, ranging from businesses to charities, to University of Worcester staff. Our goal- to involve school students into sustainability. Many children from different schools came along. The thing that unites them is the passion for sustainability and the desire to have fun while gaining Skills For Tomorrow! In the span of two days we aimed to reach out to as many children as possible. Why? Because they are the leaders of tomorrow and we need them to understand the importance of the sustainable life as well as sustainable business.

The lovely women from the University of Worcester’s outreach and participation department pointed the children towards areas of work which are developing in a sustainable way. Clever design of the activity made loads of fun because they got to draw and participate in the amazing activities they created. I managed to hear a bit of one discussion. One of the girls participating wants to become a cellular biologist and help develop new approaches to curing diseases and helping people. She is an excellent example of a future inventor and I personally wish for her to acomplish all her dreams!

The students attended three different workshops. I visited one of these which was focusing on sustainability within the Food industry. Yummy! They were divided in three groups and came up with types of sweets that they presented to the other two groups. Not only did their designs looked amazing, they were also made to be environmentally friendly with biodegradable packaging and low carbon footprints. What an amazing way to make sweets even more appealing!

Another workshop in which the children worked was on Consumer influence. They were tasked with developing a marketing campaign with one simple target. Make the world a better place. From what I saw and heard every child sees the problems with Consumer choices clearly, maybe even more than adults do! There was a wide range of ideas for influencing Consumers with one goal- preservation of nature and wildlife, saving the earth, being responsible towards our planet as well as towards ourselves. One of the groups came up with a pitch which I personally believe is brilliant: “We want to make the world less selfish!” Another campaign I saw was targeting waste of water, reducing it so it can reach the people that need it. Paper use reduction- the children believe that humanity is moving too fast for nature to keep up. In the main exhibition hall we had all the businesses and presentors set up as well as our banners for the two days of the event. These were started by us, but many children decided to sit down and help us make them more interesting and colourfull.  There is nothing better than children’s imagination! They are truly brilliant and have so many ideas about sustainability. The banners are now filled with colour and truly portray what sustainability is.

The final workshop that the children participated in was all about tourism and travel. The made their own venue and decided where the most suitable and most sustainable place will be for it.

Amongst the bright minds of all the children who visited us for Skills for Tomorrow, I believe that I can see the future. They are full of ideas which I hope they will keep and develop when they grow up. The brilliance of the child’s mind is mesmerising for me! By helping them gain Skills for Tomorrow we make sure that the future is in safe hands- their hands!