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Our Vision
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Our History
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Meet Our Team
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Our Vision
Youth organize, advocate, and implement innovative solutions and actions that address the root causes of climate change.
Community EngagementAYCL's Community Engagement Team is focused on collaborating with and supporting youth! We work to provide resources, assist in events and activities and share knowledge with others. Check out our past projects page to find ideas on how our Community Engagement Team can collaborate with you!
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School EngagementAYCL's School Engagement Team is focused on providing support and collaborating with students and schools! We look to provide ideas for bringing climate education to schools and to provide assistance on lesson plans. Take a look at our past projects page to find ways to bring climate education into your classroom or school club!
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History of AYCL
Inspired by young climate activists and leaders across the globe, four Master’s students in the Environmental Studies department, and Jason Rhoades, faculty in the E.S. department, founded the Alliance for Youth Climate Leadership (AYCL) in 2019. The group’s motivation was to stand in solidarity with young people speaking out on climate change.
In initial planning meetings, the group adopted the mission to “support the next generation of climate advocates to lead, collaborate, and innovate for a just, resilient, and thriving planet.” They also identified three pillars for AYCL to focus on: cultivating inspiration and courage, building skills and awareness, and promoting action as part of a cohort.
AYCL’s first offerings were a series of climate science literacy and story-telling workshops for students at Keene High School. These workshops were planned in consultation with KHS teachers and most importantly students. Since those first workshops, AYCL’s approach has always been to start by listening and seek to support ongoing interest and efforts of our collaborative partners.
Since then, AYCL has held trainings and workshops with hundreds of high school and middle school students in the Monadnock Region, supported undergraduate and graduate student climate leadership, assisted teachers in incorporating climate change into their curriculum, and participated in youth climate summits. AYCL has also helped organize get-out-the-vote drives and weekly climate strikes, supported regional renewable energy activism, facilitated collaborative climate art, and hosted New Hampshire activists with inspiring climate solutions.
The world needs to take action on climate change. Young people are showing us the way. Join ACYL as we support our youth in making their vision for a more sustainable and just world a reality.
In initial planning meetings, the group adopted the mission to “support the next generation of climate advocates to lead, collaborate, and innovate for a just, resilient, and thriving planet.” They also identified three pillars for AYCL to focus on: cultivating inspiration and courage, building skills and awareness, and promoting action as part of a cohort.
AYCL’s first offerings were a series of climate science literacy and story-telling workshops for students at Keene High School. These workshops were planned in consultation with KHS teachers and most importantly students. Since those first workshops, AYCL’s approach has always been to start by listening and seek to support ongoing interest and efforts of our collaborative partners.
Since then, AYCL has held trainings and workshops with hundreds of high school and middle school students in the Monadnock Region, supported undergraduate and graduate student climate leadership, assisted teachers in incorporating climate change into their curriculum, and participated in youth climate summits. AYCL has also helped organize get-out-the-vote drives and weekly climate strikes, supported regional renewable energy activism, facilitated collaborative climate art, and hosted New Hampshire activists with inspiring climate solutions.
The world needs to take action on climate change. Young people are showing us the way. Join ACYL as we support our youth in making their vision for a more sustainable and just world a reality.
Meet Our 2020-2021 Team!
Have questions about lesson planning or school resources? Ask Matt & Shanna!
Interested in promoting youth climate action in your community? Talk to Kristen!
Our team can be reached at [email protected]!
Interested in promoting youth climate action in your community? Talk to Kristen!
Our team can be reached at [email protected]!
Shanna Demersshe/her/hers
Shanna is our school engagement specialist and is a first-year student in the Environmental Studies doctoral program at AUNE. She has a passion for making science interesting and accessible for everyone. Shanna is looking forward to assisting fellow educators as they bring climate science into their classrooms. She currently teaches general biology, environmental science, and stewardship at Rivier University in Nashua, NH. In her free time, Shanna enjoys reading, wandering in the woods with her family, and identifying lichens, mushrooms, and plants!
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Kristen Thompsonthey/them/theirs or she/her/hers
Kristen is our community engagement specialist and is excited about facilitating spaces where young people can build the connections, knowledge and tools to collaborate on climate advocacy and solutions. They are in their first year at Antioch University New England, studying International Sustainable Development and Climate Change. In their spare time, Kristen enjoys writing and gardening.
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Matt Pysterhe/him/his
Matt is our school engagement specialist and is a first year graduate student at Antioch University New England, studying to become a better science teacher. One part that drives and challenges Matt the most is learning how to build a classroom community with respect, open-mindedness and self-empowerment. At AYCL, he is working on that very task through working with students to build up their projects and offering himself as a resource and support system to students. Matt is grateful to get to see students' energy and interests flowing together to create projects that impact the greater community and students' personal lives. The biggest lesson that he has learned so far has been that he is learning with and from experiences with students just as much as he is teaching students. This idea of community transitions over to Matt's personal life, where he is happiest when he is with those people and animals he enjoys, pretty much regardless of the activity.
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Roni Becherershe/her/hers
Roni is our community engagement specialist and enjoys working with the community to amplify youth climate voices. She is a second year graduate student at Antioch University New England. In her spare time, Roni enjoys exploring New Hampshire and spending time with her cat.
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Sarah Danlesshe/her/hers
Sarah is our program manager and is a first-year student in the Clinical Psychology doctoral program at Antioch University New England. She is extremely excited to be able to play such an active role in climate justice and to be involved in such a rich learning environment. In her free time, Sarah enjoys painting, video games and playing with her dog, Frankie.
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Jason Rhoadeshe/him/his
Jason is the Antioch University New England faculty advisor for AYCL. In his teaching, research and work as a practitioner, he focuses on fostering grassroots engagement at the community level to create positive social and environmental outcomes. As part of this focus, he has long believed that young people play an essential role in pushing for positive change. Acting on this belief, in the spring of 2019, Jason collaborated with a group of passionate and skilled graduate students at Antioch University New England to found the Alliance for Youth Climate Leadership. In addition to serving as the faculty advisor to AYCL, he is faculty in the Environmental Studies Department at Antioch University New England teaching courses on political economy, sustainability, leadership, service learning and project management. He is the Associate Director of the Environmental Studies PhD program and co-directs the Institute for International Conservation, which promotes sustainable and just global conversation solutions through education, service and research. Jason also directs the International Service Program that enables students to combine their Master's degree study with Peace Corps service. His research centers on supporting the voices of marginalized groups in participatory planning and decision-making. In conducting research, he relies on a participatory action research approach. Jason earned his PhD in Environmental Studies at Antioch University New England in 2016. Prior to joining Antioch, he held a variety of positions in the environmental field, including serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Armenia.
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We want to hear from you! Contact us at [email protected]!