Student Environmental Leadership Network (SELN)

This year Lilya Boundy and I were selected to be the Student Environmental Leadership Network (SELN) representatives for Brigidine. This program offers schools the opportunity to get involved within their school community and improve their ecological footprint. We were required to attend the meetings held at the State library. At every meeting, we discussed ideas and collaborated with other schools to devise solutions to environmental issues within our community. Throughout the year we were given opportunities to learn valuable leadership skills, go on excursions and meet lots of new people.

After our first meeting we had a lot of work to do. We have created an environmental group and devised a plan on what we could do to improve sustainability at Brigidine. We have decided that introducing recycling into our school would be a great start in Brigidine’s journey to becoming more sustainable.

Consequently, we have experienced lots of ups and downs, and at times it became quite overwhelming as we were given new responsibilities which we had to independently fulfil. However, we have managed to present our recycling proposal to Mr Cahill, and received the approval we needed. We are currently trialling the implementation of recycling within the college, and we hope that our project will continue to grow and improve Brigidine's environmental sustainability.

Overall, our experience with SELN has taught us that no matter how small or insignificant we think we are, we all have the potential, to be leaders, to inspire others and to make a difference. 

Written by Vy Dinh