As the rise of technology continues, many people tend to turn away from the environment and its impact on humans. Sophomore Shreya Mirchandani wants to change that.
On April 23, Mirchandani hosted an environmental science symposium in Deep Run’s auditorium from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Mirchandani prepared for the event for months by contacting multiple people to set it up. Her goal was to increase awareness about the environment and how humans affect it.
“I wanted to improve advocacy and environmental literacy in students,” Mirchandani said.
Mirchandani worked thoroughly to find a group of speakers who were willing to talk about the environment and were passionate about it.
“Through immense networking with the Director of Science for Henrico County and with the James River Association Director of Education, I formed a speakers list,” Mirchandani said.
To do so, Mirchandani invited four speakers, ranging from the Henrico County Chief of Staff to the Director of Soil and Water Conservation. Cari Tretina, Henrico County Chief of Staff, Nicole Keller, Resilience Planner at PlanRVA, Nat Draper, James River Association Director of Education, and Becky Lakin, Director of Soil and Water Conservation, spoke, using their environmental studies backgrounds to lead the conversations.
“For about an hour, I had four guest speakers talk and share their perspectives on what’s going on in Henrico County’s environment, and I moderated the conversation,” Mirchandani said.
To gain attraction, the symposium was advertised through the Science National Honors Society’s Instagram page, @snhs.drhs, in addition to fliers put up throughout the school hallways.
“I advertised by posting on Instagram, putting up fliers, and it was mentioned on the morning announcements. I also teamed up with the Environmental Club and SNHS to set it up. After doing that, around 30 people showed up,” Mirchandani said.
Sophomore Megan Leiner was one of the people in attendance at the symposium.
“[The symposium] was interesting and brought to light a lot of issues that I wasn’t aware of,” Leiner said.
One aspect that Leiner liked was having multiple speakers at the event to talk about different issues in the environment.
“I was greeted by the speakers when I walked in. They were very informational and took a lot of questions. They talked about the impact our community has on the James River ecosystem,” Leiner said.
Leiner would recommend others to attend the symposium if another is held to learn more about the local environment. Mirchandani enjoyed hosting the event and hopes that she has the opportunity to host another one in the future.
