Trinity College School Grade 11 student Olivia Bonham-Carter has been selected to the Jane Goodall Institute’s Roots & Shoots National Youth Leadership Council. This group is composed of 11 high school and university students from across Canada, all of whom have a passion for people, animals and the environment.

Thrilled with her new opportunity, Olivia jumped into action on Thursday, April 8th at this year’s “Youth 4 Action” workshop in Toronto. After helping lead forest stewardship activities, she gave a presentation on how to use art and graphics to promote youth action on environmental issues. With lots of energy, Olivia is looking forward to promoting Roots & Shoots activities here at TCS in the year to come. Her goals include doing fundraising for forest conservation in Africa, doing EcoMentors sessions with local elementary schools and promoting the new “Planet ReLeaf” campaign.

The most exciting part of being on the Youth Leadership Council so far was getting to meet Dr. Goodall at a small volunteer reception in Toronto on Tuesday, April 13th. Olivia shared with Dr. Goodall her excitement to be travelling to Africa next year with TCS’s Uganda Roots & Shoots Trip. She was inspired by her words of hope and message to take every step possible to save the environment.

- By Alison Elliott, TCS environmental coordinator