Students reps come from all 10 campuses of the UH System, and each will be coordinating local action projects on their home island. Alexis Stubbs represents UH Hilo.
Last month held opportunity for a student sustainability representative from each University of Hawai‘i campus (10 campuses, six islands) to join and collaborate on student sustainability driven initiatives in preparation for the upcoming World Youth Congress (WYC) to be held in Hawai‘i this coming summer.
The UH Hilo representative is Alexis Stubbs, a sophomore specializing in tropical horticulture at the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Management.
To prepare for next year’s congress, a three-day retreat was held Nov. 11-13 at Camp Pālehua in Kapolei, O‘ahu. The retreat was titled Aha Ho‘owaiwai (A Whole Community Approach to Wellness) and aimed to reflect the strength of coming together, sharing and caring as a community all in preparation of the Makahiki season. Community from the entire Hawaiian archipelago were present.
World Youth Congress
The World Youth Congress gathers youth leaders from across the globe every two years to discuss global themes. The WYC is entirely youth driven, planned, and executed which gives youth a unique opportunity to build skills and collaborate with high-profile decision makers. Each congress is run by Peace Child International, with the 2017 WYC being co-hosted with the UH System. Previous locations have included Rio, Turkey, Morocco, and Scotland. The first WYC was actually hosted in Hawai‘i, and WYC still retains Hawaiian practices such as starting with an oli (chant).
UH will be hosting 250 international delegates, including 200 Hawai‘i delegates between June 24 and July 1, 2017. Delegates range between ages of 18-25 and will participate in local action projects across the state.
Each UH student sustainability representative will be coordinating local action projects on their home island. The local action projects will provide opportunity for delegates to engage and work alongside with the local community and give delegates an idea of Hawaiian guiding principles such as the ahupua‘a system.
This all contributes to the Hawai‘i Aloha+ Challenge and the states goal to lead sustainability by example for the world.
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