Hundreds of students across the state gather at the University of Delaware for the Yes! Youth Environmental Summit.
The event brings together nonprofit organizations, state agencies, educators, and advocates interested in engaging young people in environmental action.
This is the summit’s 5th year.
Plastic Free Delaware’s Dee Durham, one of the event chairs, says it was created after seeing young people push to pass the legislation banning plastic carryout bags in 2019.
“And I just realized that we really needed to give today’s youth more tools, more information - help them be even better advocates. So we got a coalition of nonprofits and teachers together that were interested and we started the first Yes! back in 2019.”
The summit drew students from all three counties - with over 30 helping to run it, including student chair Runyi Liu.
“There’s a wide, diverse range of people you’ll get to meet here. And so you’re able to network, learn how to talk to them. You acquire some of their expertise to apply to your own journey, and it helps each student figure out how they want to put environment into their career paths,” said Liu.
The event featured breakout sessions focusing on topics such as the role of botanic gardens in conservation, how to advocate in local government, the dangers of PFAS, and updates on offshore wind.
This is Liu's third year attending the summit. She says she enjoys hearing about local initiatives, and how students can get involved.
“A couple of years ago we had an exhibitor who was showing us various modifications you can make to school buildings to make them more environmentally friendly,” said Liu. “And they were really small things, but it was really cool to see that those small things, that I didn’t think would have a big impact, actually do.”
This year, organizers also added more opportunities for students to get information on environmentally-focused college and career tracks.
