ONE TEEN’S SUSTAINABILITY STRATEGY IS PUT INTO ACTION

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Josie Kim. Read his story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

Josie Kim’s mission to combat climate change all began with messy water faucets. A high school student, Josie’s mission for sustainability started through her co-presidency of her school’s Climate Club. As a freshman, she noticed that her school’s water faucets caused a tremendous amount of water waste because the flow was so strong. Along with the club, Josie was inspired to start investing in low-flow faucets, and had over 100 replaced within the school. The low-flow faucet aerator project went on to save over 300,000 gallons of water per year for her school, and catapulted Josie’s climate activism mission into full gear.

Now, Josie volunteers with the Student Climate Action Council, a student council working to advance sustainability initiatives and create a greener school system. A representative of 22,000 students, Josie works tirelessly to plan dynamic events that engage students and the local community to get active, whether it’s advocating for an eight-pillar plan that prioritizes sustainability or beautifying the local community. Josie dedicates around 15 hours a month to the organization, which is a hefty lift considering her full workload as a high school senior. Still, her unwavering dedication to the cause continues.

Josie is planning on heading off to college next year. She hopes to study a combination of government and environmental studies, so she can work to implement the knowledge of climate action she has learned through her volunteerism over the last several years. Through her dedication to service, Josie has carved out a path to a potential future career that is looking particularly bright. Her story is an empowering testimonial to just how much one person can learn if they’re willing to dip their toes into the world of volunteerism.

What inspires you to volunteer?

I think what inspires me is my grandparents. Knowing that they come from an immigrant background from South Korea, I can see how hard they worked to build a life here. I think that coming from an immigrant family, a little bit later down the generational line, I’ve seen how every small change can really have a rippling effect throughout generations. Realizing that motivates me to put my best foot forward, even in daily aspects of my life. I try to put my best foot forward with this knowledge in mind.

Tell us about your volunteer role with the Student Climate Action Council (SCAC).

I’m the North Central Council Member for the Student Climate Action Council. In the role, I serve as the co-events chair, and I co-founded the events committee. In the events committee, we plan a lot of community events that encourage Montgomery County to get together and work towards advocating for different solutions to climate change.

For example, last year we hosted a town hall that had over 60 participants, both virtually and online, with several Board of Education members showing up to do Q&As and speeches. Beyond that, we also work to plan other events, like a beautification project at a local school where we did murals and tree planting. This year, we’re planning the Sustainability Summit, where we’re inviting a bunch of different organizations to come and talk to students about different climate careers and ways to get involved in climate advocacy.

What inspired you to get started with this initiative?

I’ve always had an interest in environmental studies because of the impact it has on the world, and especially the impact it has on a younger generation. We obviously aren’t seeing the full impact of climate change right now. We’ll see it in decades from now, or even a few years from now. During my freshman year of high school, I was able to get involved in a few different extracurricular activities, the main one being our school’s climate club. I was able to see the impact of climate change through this and learn about how a youth voice can get involved. In a lot of different other avenues, it’s very difficult to have this very young and active voice and advocacy, but I felt that in the climate change advocacy space, it was very receptive. From there, I worked up to a county level of advocacy, which I achieved through my position in the Student Climate Action Council.

What are your long-term plans or goals for the organization?

One of the projects we’re working on now is the climate change action plan, an eight-pillar plan that we’re hoping MCPS will adopt. For example, one of the eight pillars is climate literacy. We have a detailed plan that we talked about with different experts in the area to ensure that we’re getting the full range of knowledge that is needed to be put into investing in it. We’re working on that with MCPS, and we’ve been working on that for the past year or so. One of our main goals is to get that passed by the Board of Education. Once we do that, that would be one of our main projects for future years.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?

The most rewarding part is working with other students and learning about how they have gotten involved in the climate advocacy space. I know there are a lot of different ways for students to get involved. Being able to partner and learn about how they’re expanding their voice is such a great opportunity. Through the town hall, we were able to invite different student-led organizations and learn about the work that they’re doing. Seeing how broad this movement is within the youth community, and being able to help expand that, is something that is very impactful to me.

What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?

I’ve learned a lot of different skills, but I think one of the main things that most people can take away from this is that any advocacy movement is such a collaborative thing. It requires such close work with other people, whether that be in the same council or just communicating with teachers and adults, to make sure that your voice is heard. Communication and teamwork play such a central role, and they go hand in hand. To collaborate well, you also need communication. If everyone were to work together, then this goal would be able to progress even further.

Why is it important for others to get involved with causes they care about?

Our youth voice is often lacking in a lot of different areas. We always hear about how adults think, or what adults think are the best solutions to investing in infrastructure or green infrastructure within Montgomery County, but we don’t really account for what the students think or what they’re actually experiencing on a day-to-day classroom basis. For example, one of the main issues that I was facing in my freshman year was really messy water faucets. A lot of water would be wasted because the water flow was too strong. Because of that, my Climate Club was inspired to start investing in low-flow fountains. We actually replaced over 100 within our school. I think changes like that, that come from the student experience, are the most impactful.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

The key takeaway here is that the youth voice really can make a difference. For everybody reading this, I think one of the most important things is that they should get their voice out there and try to work on problems that they’re passionate about. Initially, I wasn’t sure if I could actually make any impactful changes within my school system. But the first step is to try to get involved with local organizations. If you do that, you’ll be working toward a pretty impactful and profound goal.

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Josie? Find local volunteer opportunities.