Screenshot from a delegate meeting by Ella ‘22
What do you do when COVID-19 prohibits international travel, but you want to engage globally in an impactful way? Watershed students in the "Resilience and Recovery" Expedition course joined with more than 300 other students from around the world in this year's virtual Model G20 Summit: Climate Change and the Future of Humanity. Student delegates to the summit studied the foundations of climate issues and climate action from multiple perspectives, met with fellow student delegates, heard from scientific and diplomatic experts, and wrote and debated climate policies.
“I had a chance to work one-on-one and in groups with students from El Salvador, China, Russia, and Colombia. I learned a lot about how complex climate change really is and I also got to talk with kids from all over just about...life. I learned so much,” reflected Eli ‘22, who served as the Minister of Communications and Internal Affairs for Canada at the summit. He worked with other delegates who had been assigned to Canada to develop policies for their adopted country and also with students in other country groups in an effort to build multilateral alliances.
“Resilience and Recovery” teacher Pablo Stayton remarks, "I was so excited to see how engaged and committed every student was to this process. They spent 16 hours of time in the summit over two weekends and students often met with their teams late at night or early in the mornings to accommodate time differences and discuss their policy ideas before the summit even started. Not only did my students learn a ton about how climate issues were impacting their assigned countries, but many of them also took on significant leadership roles in their groups. Five of our students chose to be "Head of State" for their countries, in charge of holding the "big picture" of their country's policies, and ensuring each team member was contributing and communicating. One thing that quickly became obvious to me was how most of our students naturally took on leadership roles given their comfort and skills with effective collaboration. When leadership was lacking in their groups, Watershed students stepped up!"
After studying the foundations of climate action and policy-making on a global level, students convened remotely on February 13-14 in Country Round Tables to discuss their positions, learn from experts in the relevant fields, and draft climate policies. They worked independently and in collaborations during the next week to refine their policies and explore multilateral policy opportunities and then reconvened on February 20-21 to finalize and pitch their policies.
Pablo states, “On the final day of the summit, each country delegation formally presented their policies to the other country delegations and to a "deciding committee" who voted on which delegates and delegation groups were most effective in their presentations. One of the overall awards, “Most Outstanding Delegation,” was presented to India on which Watershed junior, Riley, served as the Minister of Energy.
Watershed students reported lots of different ‘wins’ from this year’s G20 experience. Some were fascinated to learn how to think about climate change issues from a non-U.S. perspective, others developed lasting connections with kids from around the world, and some students viewed the experience as relevant to their future goals.
“I plan to double major in Mass Communications and Journalism in college next year,” said Ella ‘21. “This experience gave me a chance to learn about the role of communications at the country level, and how important and difficult it is to make information accessible to everyone in a nation. Without an effective, nationwide communications strategy, it’s impossible to implement the change global leaders set in motion.”
Slide from a group presentation by Ella ‘22
Pablo summed it up with this, "The experience overall far exceeded my expectations. Students learned so much about the complexities of policy-making, and how challenging it can be to create good policy solutions that would also work politically in their countries. Even students who didn't have a close bonding experience with their groups talked about how much they learned about leadership and communication. Students overwhelmingly appreciated the experience and three Watershed students, Riley ‘22, Joshua ‘23, and Elijah ‘23, have committed to take their policy ideas to the next level by turning them into a formal position paper that will be reviewed by Knovva Academy and considered for publication."
Interested in seeing Model G20 Summit students in action? Watch delegate presentations: Ministerial Presentation Cohort B- room 2 shows Riley’s India delegation, the award-winning presentation mentioned above starts on minute 28:55.
Learn more about Model G20 Summits and other offerings by Knovva Academy.
