On Friday, September 20, demonstrators took to the streets of Philadelphia’s Center city as part of a Global Climate Strike to raise awareness about climate change and demand action. More than 2,500 young people gathered outside of City Hall, including 106 Upper School students and 26 Middle School students from Abington Friends School.
The global strikes were inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and according to CNN, more than 4,000 were planned in 139 different countries. This past July was the warmest July, globally, in the past 140 years and nine of the 10 warmest Julys have occurred in the last 14 years (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).
Rory Erlich ’20, co-clerk of the Environmental Action and Justice Club, shared his reflection on the monumental day with This Week. With the support of our Center for Experiential Learning Director and Club Advisor, Rosanne Mistretta, and AFS administration and faculty, Rory led a team comprised of several Upper School student leaders to organize a successful and impactful demonstration.
“I was very excited by the level of enthusiasm we saw in both the Upper and Middle Schools around the strike, reflected both in the awesome turnout for the actual walkout as well as in the many students who volunteered time and energy in the preceding weeks to help fundraise and recruit for the event. We hope to carry this momentum forward to create a strong community of student-activists at AFS consistently involved in climate action. I want to emphasize that, as in other schools, the Upper School walkout was virtually entirely student-organized; that said, we were fortunate to have the support of teachers and administrators throughout the process, especially middle school faculty who volunteered their day to chaperone middle school students at the strike. As co-clerk of the Environmental Action and Justice club, I am hopeful that the receptivity we have seen on the part of AFS towards the strike will translate to further cooperation as we promote more opportunities for climateactivism and continue our efforts to make the school more sustainable.”
A few of the many student organizers who dedicated their time to the ClimateStrike include: Cydney Brown ’22, Brianna Clarke ’20, Devyn Costello-Henderson ’21, Willa Hollinger ’23, Kathy Liang ’21, Frankie Napoli ’20, Becca Pitcairn ’20, Yael Smith Posner ’25, Ajae’Lyn Price ’22, Seth Pokrifka ’20, Maddy Singer ’23, Cady Tran ’20, Noah Vinogradov ’21, and Samantha Waldman ’23.
