Welcome to the Inaugural Edition of the OF Newsletter!
Thank you for staying informed about what Our Future is working on, both in individual schools and as a statewide network. The newsletter content will be primarily produced by Our Future’s Regional Leaders team and the OF Newsletter Committee–to suggest content or to provide feedback, please use the comment form at the bottom of the page.
Our Future: Background and History
(Content written by Maya Schwartz, Crescent Valley HS, Corvallis OR)
Our Future is a student-led organization that works with aspiring young advocates from around Oregon. Founded in the middle of a global pandemic, Partners for Sustainable Schools spearheaded an advocacy network for students, run by students. Now consisting of 13 high schools from various regions of Oregon, Our Future serves as a hub for Oregon teens to connect with each other and improve their individual communities.
Through informational meetings, guest speakers, specialized resources, and most importantly, constructive support from peers and adult leaders, Our Future helps to build skills that are essential for going out and making change! These skills span networking and promotional experience to planning events and pushing for increased sustainable and equitable school policies.
Our Future includes adult advisors, who help to delegate meetings and are readily available to assist, encourage, and offer their professional insight on student-led advocacy movements and projects within their districts. The Regional Leaders, consisting of teens from all walks of life and all regions of the state, make up the second layer of the network. These high school students collaborate with one another on school-wide, region-wide, and statewide projects, and create an awesome peer support structure for any student interested in equity enrichment. The third and final layers are the general members, who also coordinate with the network on projects and efforts in order to help better their individual communities.
With this dynamic web of guidance and support, Our Future encourages new connections, expands student advocacy skills, and fosters friendships between like-minded high schoolers. It is an essential network to help any Oregon teen grow their community and create a better tomorrow. To learn more or join today, please fill out the “Contact Us” form at the bottom of this blog post.
Meet the Team: Our Future’s 2021-22 Regional Leaders
Our Future’s leadership team consists of students representing their schools from various regions around Oregon. To learn a little more about what these student leaders are passionate about, please click HERE.
Getting Involved: Current Events and Opportunities
(Content written by Sunita Kothari, David Douglas HS, Portland, OR)
There are many ways to take environmental action. The most important thing to remember is that you can help! One way to be involved is by spreading awareness about the things that have been happening; you can start by posting articles, facts, and quotes on your social media platform. You can also get involved with your school if they have a green club, promoting it to students, clubs, asking teachers to try to make it part of their educational teaching, and teaching people who don’t know about these issues. You can also sign petitions online; this shows a commitment to understanding and supporting issues that can be global in scale.
Most importantly, make a move today with groups of people who believe in your cause. Our Future is made up of these types of students, and together we can accomplish much more than we can individually. Let’s make our world GREEN again!
Check Out Our Future’s Blog!
Each month, the website will feature articles written by Our Future Regional Leaders–please click HERE to read this month’s article written by Olive Nye, a Regional Leader from Bend High School, about her school’s current project and how the Our Future network is assisting her in making progress.
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