Article rédigé par les élèves ayant participé 

As part of the Volterre project, close to 70 students of the Collège du Léman, Switzerland, explored the Arboretum in Aubonne. The aim of the excursion was to raise awareness among youth about the environment, plants and sustainable development. The specific contribution of the youth was to map the Arboretum with Green Map® (GSM). As part of this communications project, students were also asked to describe their impressions of the field trip.

ICVolunteers initiated the Volterre project as part of its activities linked to communications and sustainable development. It has played a leading role in the development of the Volterre project and mobilized volunteers both for the preparation and implementation of the project. ICVolunteers closely collaborated with the Earth Focus Foundation --a longstanding partner-- that introduced the Green Map concept in Switzerland.

Despite the low temperatures for the season, the weather was better than its forecast. No rain and even some sunshine coming through the clouds. Students relayed their impressions from the day. One group described it as follows: “It was a cold day, at the end of May. We arrived early morning at the Arboretum in order to create a Green Map. As we arrived, we were divided into groups and were given maps and a trail to walk on. As we walked, we placed icons on the map, photographers took pictures of the views and we, the journalists, took notes of what we saw. On our walk, we saw rivers, wetlands, great views, birds, bridges, flower, trees, mountains, and more. We also saw houses and a water dam.”

Another group provided a detailed description of the ups and downs of the endeavor. Cold and wet at first, impressed by nature and in happy mood later: “Mrs. Blyth keeps us with a wide and happy spirit. Continuing down a muddy hill and we see a beaver damn. We keep walking and we find beautiful roses in all different colors. We are now still moving on, but a bit longer to go, becoming a bit warmer. Our group is becoming stronger as we are getting closer to lunch. We start seeing beautiful sites with a huge pond, we pay attention to the fact that at night you can star gaze. The paths are nice and dry to walk on. About 10 minutes to go, gorgeous views, flowers, lily pads, green plants and trees and especially since the sun is out. We finish our tour and site watching; we have worked together as a team thanks to Mrs. Blyth. Members of our team accomplished their goals: Erika got through her hands being cold and worked hard at mapping. Heidi kept control of where we were going and led us in the right direction. Veronica got through with her shoes and the mud including how she felt. Jordan got great pictures especially of the cows. Andreas kept the spirit and fun in our team.”

And what did the students learn in all of this? “In this excursion, we learned about nature’s beauty and why it must be preserved. We learned that, as it rains, water loving creatures, such as snails, and slugs come out, and birds hide in trees. We liked the trip, but we thought it was a bit tiring, cold and muddy.” The other group summarized it by writing “It was a fun day. We learned and had a lot of interest in today’s field trip.”

In the longer run, the Volterre project aims to offer a range of opportunities to young people, be it with Green Map or tree planning in Switzerland, France, Spain and elsewhere, eventually associating African students in the tree planting and environmental awareness raising.

Viola Krebs, ICVolunteers

The following students contributed to the report : Curry Taylor (USA 15) and Veronica Castillo(Venezuela 14), Maha Bin Mussallam (Saudi Arabia 15), Dallas Moqhali ( Lesotho 14), Sami Tarbush (USA 15), Idrissa Coulibaly (Mali 14), Julan Nyagiera (Zimbabwe 14), Zhen Xu (China 15)