Samsung Environmental Forum

Our 5th - 8th grade students are currently participating in an interactive environmental forum. They are having a blast so far! This morning we listened to three lectures promoting a health environment. Our first lecture was about "100 Ways a Cell Phone can Kill You" and our students enjoyed this lecture so much. They learned how much radioactive energy a cell phone has and the ways that disposing of a cell phone can hurt the environment. One of our students from 5th grade, Tami, asked "So, you keeping a cell phone for a longer time is better for the environment?" Our speaker told Tami he made an excellent point and that we should start focusing on utilizing what we have and not the flashy marketing gadgets that are todays fads. The second lecturer was Korean film star, Ricky Kim, who was born and raised in Kansas, USA. He spoke to us about life in the jungle and what it's like to survive without our modern day nessecities and how important it is to respect the world around us and the energy and sustanance that the earth provides us. We then had lunch in our sessional groups where we met the other international school students who were attending the forum. Or students were split into three groups and mixed with different age groups and students from around the world. After lunch we went back for one more lecture from a professor of yongsei university about the preservation of wetlands in the world. He spoke about how they are a delicate ecosystem that provides us with several resources and animal habitats. He asked that even though there are not bogs and wetlands located in Korea that we remain active for this valuable part of our environment. The students then seperated from us for their sesssional activites. As we observed from in and out of the classroom the students were having a blast! Group One watched a movie called "Solar Taxi" which was about. man who travelled all around the world exploring 40 different countries and their environmental wonders. Samsung has also been videotaping all day and Savannah, Mutahar and Tami have taken hold of the microphone and asked a few questions themselves! Rock on! Group 3 played an interactive game with Samsung representatives where they asked questions and the students, in teams, recorded their answers on white boards while Group 2 presented their environmental activities to their peer group of 20 groups. This is just the end of session 1, can't wait to hear about session 2. More of our students will be presenting and participating in fun activities! Stay tuned!