An English teacher Conrado Simon from Instituto de Educación Secundaria (IES) Gran Capitán in Madrid contacted IYNF to collaborate on a task he wanted to give his students for Earth Day. He believes that “A simple acknowledgement from an NGO like yours to the students can do a lot to make them feel inspired in having done the activity, and maybe even push them to actually do something to help save the environment.” 

The task was to write an email raising awareness about an environmental problem in their city or neighborhood, as well as proposing solutions on how to manage these problems. To make it more fun and motivating, 3 students with the best letters evaluated by the teachers are going to receive an IYNF t-shirt! 

IYNF Secretariat thinks that this is a great and inspiring initiative the teacher showed in contacting us. It’s good to see that a formal education institute approaches NGOs as a way to give more value to their students. Writing letters to officials is one of the forms of civic participation that students should be encouraged to do. Change happens only when you take action and that action can be as simple as writing a letter to your local municipality, NGO, politician or anyone else in charge. Just take that first step! 

Below you can find 5 letters we received in one PDF, just click the → in the bottom left corner to read all of the letters.