Josh Schrock
Youth advisor to the Mayor’s Environmental Advisory Committee
Our goal is to bring carbon neutrality to Goshen and increase our environmental friendliness. Starting that locally in Goshen is a really powerful thing. Our output is one of the things we can control locally in Goshen, especially with all the factories and stuff around here. I think it’s really good that we’re looking into ways to help do our part.
A similar position to this I’m involved with at the high school is the Superintendent Student Advisory Council. We talk about topics related to school. One of the ideas we brought over from the mayor’s environmental committee was composting; We spent a lot of time working on that in the committee. We brought that idea up to the superintendent and he said he would be interested in doing it as well.
As part of the International Baccalaureate Theory of Knowledge class, we made a video called ‘Sonder’ to promote homelessness awareness in the Goshen and Elkhart area. It got some pretty good responses. My role was editing and filming. We also had people doing design work and figuring out where we were going to film.
It was actually pretty astonishing. We went one night to a meal at a church downtown and interviewed people. Everyone has a story. There were many different ways people became homeless. It was interesting just to see all the things they wish they had, and also the things we can do to help them get out of that situation.
One of the remarkable things about Goshen is its atmosphere. It has this close community kind of feel to it. We have an emphasis on the parks, and we have a lot of natural areas that are really nice. Our emphasis on doing things to help build the community is really strong here.
Writing and editing by Scott Weisser and Neil King
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