Camaraderie in our Community
By Ava
Andover’s Sustainability Fair
WECAN created the second annual Sustainability Fair at Andover Day in September. With many booths dedicated to improving Andover’s sustainability practices, the fair was able to foster a sense of community amongst participants and gain more traction the previous year.
Creating Community
Many community members representing local organizations, such as Steve Golden of Walk Bike Andover, agreed that, “making friends that understand your mission” is one of the most important outcomes of events like these and that, “making genuine connections between community members and other organizations is the very reason why it is so important that the town has things like this.”
High School Participation
Feelings of community were also fostered by youth at the Sustainability Fair including members of Andover High School’s environmental organizations.
Leader of the Environmental Club, Lizzie Koral, enthused, “the fair was such a wonderful event to collaborate and network in the community.”
Having student-run clubs at the Sustainability Fair was a wonderful opportunity for Andover’s youth to participate in environmental activism. For many students, this was one of the first times they were able to take part in town-wide environmental advocacy, which was extremely important in connecting them to the community’s overall mission of supporting environmental action. This is crucial in the fight to mitigate Andover’s impact on climate change by introducing new voices and perspectives to conversations about the future of our community.
Molly Borenstien, also a member of the Andover High School’s Environmental Club appreciated the opportunity to participate in the fair sharing “I enjoyed meeting other community members who also deeply care about the environment.”
Future Youth Sustainability Fair!
The success of the Sustainability Fair, coupled with a huge community turnout, has led WECAN, a local environmental organization, to begin developing a similar fair geared towards youth. Considering so many of the participants of the Sustainability Fair were students, WECAN believes that a Youth Sustainability Fair, will be an even better way to showcase the work Andover’s youth has done to benefit the environment.
