Seventeen students and teachers died at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14th, 2018 due to gun violence.  On the one month anniversary of the Parkland massacre, March 14th, 2018, many schools across the U.S. walked out of class to honor the victims. The goal of the walkout was to advocate gun control to ban assault rifles and mandate background checks for all firearm sales.  Students and staff at my school, Lincoln Middle school walked out for seventeen minutes carrying banners and signs with the various hashtags and phrases to advocate for sensible gun control and to stop the killing of innocent lives. I joined over 500 students and staff or 80% of our school population in this peaceful protest.

      Another protest was held across the country called The March for Our Lives on March 24, 2018. Kylie, Jada, Kieu, Dan, Sharleen and I joined the Alameda March starting at the crosswalk of Park Street and Santa Clara. Several hundred people marched down Park Street to Big 5 to protest their sale of assault rifles, holding signs with slogans like, “Arms are for Hugging”, “Using the 1st Amendment to Challenge the 2nd Amendment” and “The Right to Bear Arms is NOT a License to Kill”.

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On March 1st, 2018, BFF Alliance organized a volunteer event at the Alameda County Community Food Bank’s Family Night.  Family Night is a special event held twice a year from 5:30-7:30pm where children as young as 5 years can volunteer with their families.  Brenna, Lily, Vida, Sharleen, Dan, Kylie, Alyssa, Jada, Joshua, Kieu, Leon, Lynna, David, Emmett, Clara, Adam, Ellie, Charlie, Mailisha, Julee, Penny, Pepper, Chris, Yvette, Paul, Chandler, Joey, Lucia, Brent, and Truly helped bag pears for distribution. Collectively, we bagged 11,209 pounds of pears which is equivalent to 9,500 meals.  We can make a positive contribution no matter the age and we are proud of our young volunteers.

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On February 24th, 2018, over a thousand students, teachers and volunteers attended the 4th annual Spare the Air Youth’s YES (Youth for the Environment and Sustainability) Conference at Laney College in Oakland. After registration and breakfast, everyone filed into the gym to hear welcome greetings and announcements.  We cheered speeches from the Air District Chair; David Hudson, MCT Commissioner and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, Laney College representative Dean Peter Crabtree, and finally, the Middle School keynote speaker; Alyssa Goldfield.

Throughout the day everyone participated in two sessions, choosing from over 50 seminars.  We learned about many environmental topics from Fracking, Green Careers, Urban Transportation, Recycling, and Sustainable Engineering to Student Activism, Edible Forestry, Marine Life, Ocean Acidification, and how to get involved in sustainable change.

During lunch, we enjoyed other fun activities like the bike blenders, poetry performances, open mic, yoga, Capoeira, chalk art, dancing and a photo booth in the Quad.  

We ended back at the gym for the closing ceremony with High School keynote speaker; McKenna Smith, adult keynote speaker; Devin Lars, and Youth Speaks poet; Jed Rodriguez. Competition winners and raffle prizes of gift bags, $100 gift cards, Amazon Echo, and a bicycle were handed out.  The YES Conference was a huge success and everyone from the air district and the planning committee was grateful for the turnout and awesome results.

My keynote speech was on how people can fight climate change in their home, school, and community by their daily actions. I attended a lesson held by students from Lincoln Middle School to learn about the watershed, ocean acidification, and the importance of sorting trash. I took pictures at the photo booth during our amazing lunch. I made a bike blender smoothie, played fun environmentally targeted games at the mini carnival, listened to music, and hung out with my friends. During session two, I learned about important factors in city planning of the future. The important things to consider are energy, transportation, food, and employment to construct a city that is eco-friendly. The keynote speakers talked about the importance of women in STEM fields and encouraged us not let obstacles and failures prevent us from pursuing our dreams.  I am grateful to be a part of the planning committee and to be chosen as a keynote speaker.

Official 2018 YES Conference Video

On Saturday, February 24th 2018, held at Laney College in Oakland from 9:00 am- 3:00 pm, hundreds of students and educators from across the Bay Area will attend the 5th annual YES Conference.  Attendees will learn from other teens on ways to collaborate and share ideas on sustainability and climate solutions.  It is a great way to practice presentation skills, meet other teens with similar goals, and have fun. If you are in middle school or up, you can register here and upload the waiver. For more questions, go the official website.

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On August 16th, 2017, Evelyn, Jada, Alyssa and Sharleen went to ACCFB with Wells Fargo to volunteer. They bagged apples, bell peppers, carrots and broccoli. Together with 2 other big groups, everyone bagged 36,796 pounds of produce, that’s equivalent to 30,000 meals!

On 5/6/2017 the BFF Alliance group went to the Alameda County Community Food Bank to pack fresh apples for distribution. Nine students and four adults were in attendance, totaling 39 hours of volunteering. Together with other groups, we packed 21,000 pounds of groceries equivalent to 19,000 meals.