Nichole Ong

Last Friday the Environmental Committee (Green Team) had the honour of welcoming His Excellency Dr Justin Lee, the Australian High Commissioner of Malaysia to our school for a working lunch. We had the opportunity to share our ideas for initiatives and receive his feedback. In particular, we discussed a theme the Green Team could adopt for this term, which will be based around sustainability, climate change, and caring for our world.

Our Green Team was able to discuss innovative ideas from students of all ages, ranging from debate competitions for awareness, environmental mathematics, photography of wildlife around the school, fundraising initiatives, guest speakers, and more. These projects were founded under Dr Lee’s model for environmental action, which breaks down environmental initiatives into three groups: education and raising awareness, fundraising, as well as practical measures. On this same day, we also had the opportunity to see one of these measures put into action, as three Year 11 students and three Year 12 students debated the environmental motion “This house believes that human-induced climate change is the biggest issue in history.” The whole school was able to participate as an audience, having the opportunity to explore nuances within the importance of human-induced climate change, both within the short and long term. This debate also successfully ties in with another student lead initiative, the Debate Team, which will commence next term.

Overall, the working lunch was a massive success and shows great potential for the Environmental Committee going forward. We would like to extend our warmest thanks to Mr Broadbent for his support within the Environmental Committee, as well as Anna Huggel (Y12) for initiating this committee and making the working lunch happen. Special thanks also to Mr Brooks and Mr Unsworth for their support of this event, to Mr BK Gan for his interest and attendance, and especially to the AISM facilities and marketing departments for putting everything together on the day. Furthermore, a huge thank you to the Australian High Commissioner, Dr Justin Lee, for his participation in this event. It was truly inspiring to hear insights from someone of his experience and calibre. We are extremely grateful and honoured to have had this opportunity.