West Chester Student Travels to Bangladesh

West Chester youth leader, Judy Yang (), is implementing social action projects designed to help her community in particular and the planet in general. The projects are the students´ way of sharing the knowledge they gained after participation in an innovative one-month immersion trip to Bangladesh to study climate change.  In these impactful projects, students are fusing their first-hand experiences in Bangladesh to the West Chester community in the United States.  Since students observed how regional actions could have a direct impact on global sustainability, their action projects will empower their local communities to make a change in order to prevent further global destruction.  

In December 2011, thirty youth leaders and five educators from across the United States earned the unique opportunity to experience how climate change is affecting the local environment and community in Bangladesh firsthand.  The international trip was part of the American Youth Leadership Program (AYLP), an initiative sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State and global education nonprofit World Savvy.  The program is administered by World Savvy, a non-profit organization that educates and engages youth in community and global affairs. Program goals include fostering mutual understanding, respect, and civic engagement among young Americans and their Bangladeshi peers.  World Savvy’s Executive Director and Co-Founder Dana Mortenson shared that “meeting individuals affected by climate change in Bangladesh illuminates the connections between issues, events and people, locally and globally, and promotes informed, positive action.”

While in Bangladesh, youth leaders and educators witnessed the devastation in the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest, and additionally, visited communities that lost farmland as a direct result of climate change.  These and many other first-hand experiences provided youth leaders and educators with the understanding that our actions in the United States can have an impact halfway across the world.

Judy Yang aims to build awareness in her community about environmental issues.  She is collaborating with the West Chester Public Library to conduct workshops for children.  In her workshop, Judy will share her experiences in Bangladesh with her photos and stories from Bangladesh.