By Holly Swiglo
It is a bitterly cold day, with snow and hail pelting down. Standing atop a wobbly folding chair, pressing a megaphone to my lips for the first time, I look out into the sea of nearly 600 faces before me. I am astounded. There are hundreds more than we expected.
A few years ago, I was a shy kid who rarely raised my hand in class. I never would have imagined that now, I would be speaking in front of so many people, including government officials.
I am one of the leaders of the Progressives Club at my school. Our club organized and led the Roseville Area High School (RAHS) Walkout For Climate Progress in Roseville, Minnesota. For as long as I can remember, my highest aspiration has been to make the world a better place. I discovered my passion for the natural world in my Environmental Science class freshman year. This course opened my eyes to the destructive effects of the climate crisis.
Watching Greta Thunberg’s climate strikes gave me inspiration for how to turn my environmental passion into action. Through this walkout, we elevated the voices of youth, presented a list of action items for local officials, and created change in ways I never could have imagined possible. Already, numerous elected officials have spoken publicly about our strike, and we have made so many connections with local politicians, city staff, environmental groups and school board and community members. The walkout spurred proposals regarding solar panels and sustainability programs for our school.
Other student leaders and I faced many challenges and setbacks while planning the
strike. For example, we learned just a few days before the event that our school prohibited us from sharing walkout-related information. The school would not send anything to students, and we could not tape posters up in the hallways. We were banking on the school to spread awareness, so this was a huge barrier for us. With only a few days to spread the word, we had to get creative: we shared our messages with students, recorded videos to post on social media, asked other organizations
to publicize the strike, and even spoke at a city council meeting in order to encourage the mayor
and city council members to attend the strike.
Due to our efforts, we gathered a large crowd for the walkout, including several elementary school students who got exposure to the climate crisis for the first time through this event.
Leading our first strike was definitely a shot in the dark. Although the walkout was quite successful, I would make some significant changes for the next one. First, instead of beginning to plan two months ahead of time, I would start planning further in advance. I did not anticipate the time and effort required to organize such a wide-scale event. Second, I would host a speech writing workshop beforehand for speakers. During the strike, we observed that the 15-minute prepared speeches were too in-depth to maintain energy and engagement. I would also spend more time researching possible demands — officials are more likely to listen to youth if we are educated on the issues and specific in our proposals.
The strike also taught me the importance of connecting with local officials. Officials, such as council members and school board members, have valuable experience and expertise, so it is beneficial to receive their advice and input. For example, our club reached out to Roseville City Council Member
Julie Strahan. She suggested improvements in planning the walkout, advised us on our list of action items, and spread the word to local representatives and city staff. We are still continuing to work with Councilmember Strahan, as well as other partners we have made along the way, to ensure action is taken.
I’d also advise future youth activists to get as many people involved in the strike as possible from the very beginning. This helps reduce the burden on the main strike leaders. Since I am a perfectionist and generally prefer to work individually, it was hard for me to delegate some of my tasks to other people. However, I don’t have the capacity to do everything alone, and the walkout was more impactful with a variety of people’s engagement and ideas. Most importantly, this allows BIPOC, marginalized gendered, disabled, and LGBTQ+ voices to be heard.
I felt a rush of anxiety leading up to the strike. Would I embarrass myself, would my peers think I was weird? What if no one supported me? What if I was alone? In the end, I found that I had my peers’ full support. There were a few nasty comments on social media and hateful emails, but the many connections I made and the friendships I built along the way were more than worth it. I look forward to continuing to work with all these amazing people.
And as I stand, speaking into that megaphone, I realize that I don’t even care what others think. Fighting for climate justice is more important to me than anything else. It is my greatest passion, and I’ve realized that I am more capable of creating change than I ever thought possible. It’s fair to say that my life will never be the same. I can’t wait to see what we’ll do next.
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