On Thursday 9th of May four student leaders from Silverton attended the City of Greater Dandenong + CERES Student Environmental Leadership Summit.
The summit was held at Springvale Town Hall and was attended by many local schools.
The day started with a ‘ Welcome to Country’ ceremony held in the newly landscaped area outside of the town hall. Students learnt about the Bunurong people and their connection to country. They also discovered the significance of the local indigenous plants that were burnt in the fireplace to welcome people to Bunurong Country.
Students were impressed with the cultural importance of the ceremony and were keen to create a similar area at our school that would acknowledge the Indigenous history of the Dandenong area. They suggested that the area could include the three species that were used in the leaf burning ceremony- Cherry Ballart, Manna gum and Black Wattle.
The summit gave our students the opportunity to look at the sustainability initiatives that we are already doing at Silverton and the areas that need improvement.
We all agreed that we were doing well with Biodiversity but needed to do more to reduce our waste production and our water and electricity usage.
We talked to other schools who were doing well in these areas to find out what they had done to reduce waste, electricity, and water usage.
Students also participated in two workshops, one on waste and recycling and the other was on Melbourne’s water catchments and the environmental pollutants that enter the system.
The day finished with time to choose a project for our school, then prepare and practice a short pitch that students will deliver to Mr Pollard and Mrs Wheeler.
“I liked that the day was very interactive”- Henry- School Captain
“I really liked the Welcome to Country Smoke Ceremony it was very cool ”- Luca- Environment Captain.
