OTTAWA (September 1, 2009) – The British Council in Brazil has invited Canadian high school students Meredith Drieseberg from Burlington, Ontario and Kaitlyn Kellsey from Oakbank, Manitoba to participate in a climate camp in Brazil from September 6th to September 11th 2009. These outstanding students are part of the British Council’s International Climate Champions programme.

The students will arrive in Rio de Janeiro and then travel to Araras where they will partake in workshops on climate change and communication. They will have the opportunity to collaborate with students from Brazil, the UK and Mexico and share their knowledge and experiences.

The Canadian students will give a presentation (in Portuguese and English) on their ICCommit eco-pledge project that they envisioned and piloted in Canada last year. The project, that involved about 20 schools in four provinces as well as schools in Japan and India, was so successful that it was short-listed for the Weston Youth Innovation Award earlier this year. The group intends to involve more Canadian schools this year as well as schools in Brazil, Mexico and the U.S.

The British Council is the United Kingdom’s international organization to promote education and cultural relations.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Margret Brady Nankivell, Programmes & Communications Manager

tel:   1(613)364-6237 or cell: 1(613)301-5922 or margret.brady@britishcouncil.org

BACKGROUNDER:

Meredith Drieseberg., Nelson High School, Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Meredith is a grade twelve student at Nelson High School in Burlington, Ontario. She has been very involved in her school as the co-chair of the Student Executive and Student Activity Council.  Her greatest interest has been climate change and she has worked locally to discuss environmental issues amongst youth in her community through a new environmental youth network as well as her school eco-club. In her grade ten year she was given the opportunity to be a part of the International Climate Champion program, where she was given the chance to attend the Canadian Science Writer’s Conference in Whitehorse, Yukon. Through this conference she was able to see firsthand the devastating effects of the climate crisis on Canada’s fragile north.  Furthermore, Meredith also attended the North American Climate Camp in San Diego, California where she was able to work with the Canadian ICCs to establish a new movement called ICCommit, which is a program run throughout Canada that fosters climate change education and action amongst youth. She helped run this program in local schools and overall, ICCommit was such a success that it was a finalist for the Weston Youth Innovation Award by the Ontario Science Centre.

Kaitlyn Kellsey, College Pierre-Elliot-Trudeau, Oakbank, Manitoba, Canada

Kaitlyn is a grade twelve student at College Pierre-Elliot-Trudeau in Oakbank, Manitoba. Her goal is to build a sustainable classroom on her school property in order to educate her student body, surrounding schools and community on how a completely off the grid building can function on its own. She is hopeful that this project will encourage others to pursue similar sustainability projects. The sustainable classroom has already been approved by the government and the school division with flying colours. The next step is to plan the structure, fundraise and market the idea. Once the school year starts, she will be busy planning workshops for the students to get them involved and educated about sustainable energy and building materials. The construction by the student body will start by June 2010. This is a large project that requires a great deal of time, planning and effort. Kaitlyn hopes that this project will inspire youth to engage on sustainability and durability.