Preparing the Carbon Footprint Conference at SMP 37 and Carbon Footprint Workshop For Teachers At SDK Santa Theresia 1
by Curtis Deschambault
The last few days have been very hectic with visiting Mojokerto and than visiting Malang. Today I finally got back to work with the schools in Surabaya. The schools that I visited today were schools that I have projects with. I visited with SMP 37 to discuss the Carbon footprint conference and Santa Theresia I where I discussed with the principal the things I will need for my activities. I also interviewed the principal of Santa Theresia because he will be going to Jarkata tomorrow, to receive an environmental award for his school.
Roni and I visited SMP 37 to meet with the organising committee and discuss the progress of the conference. The seven groups presented their information they have found on their topics. The majority of the groups were on the right track with their information. However, there was a team who did not have any information because they were a bit confused on what to find. I gave the task to the students to make a draft for an activity that they can do to compliment the information they have found.
Secondly, I met with Michael Daranto the principal at SDK Santa Theresia 1. Mr. Daranto has been principal at the school for 1 year now, he taught computer electronics at St Stanislaus Senior high school prior to being asked to be principal. He taught computer electronics for 11 years and is now still very young at the age of 36. Upon becoming principal of Santa Thereisa he was impressed with the dedication he children had with the environment. This is the 3rd year that the school has won the award and he believes it is because they understand the importance of leading by example.
Mr. Daranto hopes that next year his school can take steps to improving the water because they have talked about it for a while but have yet to do any actions towards improving the water. Mr. Daranto will be leaving June 3rd to Jakarta for a 3 day award ceremonies. The 3 days will consist of seminar on maintaining a green school and receiving the environment award from the president himself. Mr. Daranto is very excited to meet the president and hopes to learn about green activities from the other schools attending.
On the issue of how he believes Indonesia can become more environmentally friendly he states, “To become greener we must develop a relationship between the government, the environment and the community. This is the only way that we can effectively make changes towards a greener Indonesia.” Hopefully this can happen and everyone can share their resources, not only locally but globally. Mr. Daranto also believes that talk is not worth much and it is action that makes the biggest difference. Hopefully every school can get a principal as keen and motivated as Mr. Daranto.