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Happy Earth Day Week! Spotlight on Top Five
- Admin
- Apr 20
- 4 min read
Just three days left to vote for your favorite team in the People's Choice Award category at the Power for a Better Future Buddies Without Borders Online Forum. Please click on the link to see what the international teams propose and cast your vote.
Currently, all forum participants are conducting peer reviews and voting for the student among the Top Five Finishers who they feel best represent the spirit of Buddies Without Borders. These are the students who accumulate the most points based on their international mindedness, critical thinking, clear communication, and cooperative behavior:
Vivianna Shekhar - Strawberry Fields High School, Chandigarh, India
"I am quite passionate about protecting the environment, and I have already taken action in this respect, I have a passion project called 'Bin The Waste', (@binthewaste on instagram) and much of my work so far has focused on plastic pollution and waste management. Through my initiative, I raise awareness about the damage which excessive plastic use causes and advocate for individuals to refrain from using plastic bags in particular. Moreover, the more I learn about pollution and waste management, the more I realise that it is connected with energy use and climate policies as a whole. Additionally, I also face many challenges with getting my passion project to make a bigger impact; I want to understand how countries set and revise their climate targets, why so many are struggling to meet them, and what kinds of clean energy solutions are both practical and equitable. Learning this will help me strengthen my advocacy work and broaden the impact of my passion project.
Veronika Strečková - AISC, Cyprus'
Most of energies we use today cause a massive amount of pollution and harm our planet. The pollution caused warms the planet and makes life miserable for many wild animals that live in cold environments. The global warming is melting glaciers and causing arctic and antarctic mammals to go extinct. Our planet will become unlivable if we don't manage to make a big change as soon as possible. The project proposed by the UN, Paris Agreement, is one major step towards a better life and conservation of our planet. It is important that this all of the necessary goal are achieved if we want to (prolong) and conserve our planet. I truly believe that everyone should be aware of this big movement that is happening and try their hardest to get involved and support it by being more ecological. Recycling our trash, using more renewable energy powered transportation or public transportation to get more transport more people and use less individual fuel to get around would be a wonderful start. Only if all of us act together we will manage to reach this goal and save our planet and stop the self-destruction we are causing."
Gabby Louise Wieczorek - The Walker School, Georgia, USA
"I am interested in this topic because I have heard so much about it, and I would like to make a change. After learning about greenhouse gases in Biology this year, I have really been trying to manage my consumption by recycling and only getting food in my school cafeteria that I am going to eat. A little can go a long way, and I think that if we teenagers come together to help better our future, we could make it happen. Droughts and floods heavily impact our community and cause widespread devastation, so I believe there is another way to reduce pollution and help make this agreement a global reality. I would really look forward to hearing other people’s perspectives and ideas so that we can hopefully collaborate and create ideas that cause less harm, and being able to meet new people that are also interested."
Mahsa Raeissi Goudoei - Towheed Iranian International School, UAE
"Energy is something we use every day without thinking about it, but it’s also at the heart of our biggest global challenge. I’ve always been curious about why we know climate change is a problem, yet we’re still so far from fixing it. What really gets me is the gap between what countries promised in the Paris Agreement and what’s actually happening. We’re five years away from the 2030 deadline, and almost everyone is behind schedule. That doesn’t make sense to me. If world leaders agree this is urgent, why isn’t more changing? I want to understand the real barriers that are the politics, economics, and human factors that are slowing our progress. I’m tired of hearing about the problem without learning about practical solutions. This program seems different because it focuses on action and brings together students from different countries who actually want to make a difference. I think my generation sees this differently than older ones. We’re going to live with the consequences of today’s decisions, so we have every reason to push for change now. I want to be part of finding solutions that actually work, not just talking about what should happen. That’s why this topic matters to me."
Carolina Queiroz Damo - Windermere High School, Florida, USA
"I have always been interested in finding alternatives for how countries produce their energy, in ways that would be more economically balanced and just. I have also been more interested in seeing how these countries could economically face the transition from non-renewable energy to renewable energy, specifically in developing ones. Having grown up in Brazil and the USA, I am captivated by how government agreements, investments, and treaties can influence this shift and how different projects with trial and error can make sustainable energy into a reality for most countries with investment. Moreover, energy usage affects several different sectors, including healthcare, education and economic opportunities. Finding solutions to these issues for different countries and discussing those solutions within a global forum, can impact lives."
Please join us in acknowledging the incredible efforts and remarkable work that all the students have put forward in their pursuit to work across borders to make the world a better place. The winners will be announced the week of April 27, 2026.
#internationalstudents, #highschools, #globaleducation, #buddieswithoutborders, #SDGs, #unitednations
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