On Saturday, October 19, 4 students from Pentucket High School (Mikayla Tilden, Kendall Begin, and Hannah Murphy) hosted their first Climate Café at the Old Town Hall in West Newbury. They were joined by 3 students from Ipswich High and 4 students from Newburyport. Sixteen residents joined the students for a guided conversation about their favorite places and how it’s changed. Garden Club members were well represented, including John Terry, Cyndy Bourguard, Kathy Mandeville, Linda Schaffer, and Nancy Pau.
“It was a well-planned afternoon of thoughtful conversation about what we value in nature and what changes we have seen”, reflected Linda Schaffer. “There was a shared sense of loss and concern regarding how the environment is different than when we were young.”
Cyndy Bourguard was most impressed by the students from different school coming together to collaborate on the Cafe. She was especially glad to hear a Cafe veteran from Newburyport note that West Newbury is already doing a lot of activity to address Climate Change.
Kathy Mandeville displayed the Garden Club Scholarship poster developed by Pollyann Statom for the bicentennial and scholarships available from Marjot foundation for student research (The Marjot Foundation).
With their first Cafe successfully behind them, the students will be planning future Cafes on different environmental topics. With the lack of public meeting spaces in town, the team is looking for people that are willing to host Cafes (1-2 students and your friends and neighbors for a few hours) at their homes or gardens to continue the conversation. If you may be interest, please email Nancy at nancy_pau@yahoo.com or Shari Melto at shari.melto@gmail.com.