Students with passion for the environmental movement want to make a shift. A shift towards making a stronger movement to end what hurts the environment. A Power Shift.

“The Power Shift Convention’s purpose is to empower youth, get the attention of big oil and coal companies, and show them that we have a voice and that we care,” said Sophia Showalter, senior.

At the convention, students listened to speakers and attended workshops to discuss ways to change the environment through advocacy and recruiting more supporters for their cause.

Along with Showalter, Tessa Ruff, Lindsey Lande, Aurelia Rosko, and Elayna Shapiro, seniors, attended the convention in Pittsburgh, PA on Oct. 18-21.

The girls heard about Power Shift through an organization called Youth Environmental Activists Minnesota (YEA! MN), where they attend meetings. YEA! MN discusses the environment and how high school students can help stop global warming.

“It is a group for high schoolers in Minneapolis. A lot of the members are in their Earth Club at their school, so it’s a great way to meet people who have the same interests as you,” Shapiro said.

The girls traded in college touring, a popular activity during MEA, and instead bussed to Pittsburgh to go to the convention.

“The convention happens every two years and it’s on a lot of environmental groups’ radars. It’s a big deal,” Rosko said.

After listening to all of the speakers and attending the workshops, students used everything they have learned and put it into action in a Day of Action.

“For the Day of Action, we protested throughout Pittsburgh promoting the end of fossil fuels throughout America,” Lande said.

Now Showalter, Rosko, Shapiro, Lande, and Ruff plan to use what they learned to make the planet’s future brighter.

“All of us are very passionate about saving the Earth,” Ruff said. “We like to share that with people and and talk about it so this is just such an amazing opportunity to do in our own time.”

The girls’ passion for saving the earth has led them to want to spread their love to HHS.

“We definitely want to bring ideas to HHS and share the experiences that we had at Power Shift with kids who didn’t go.” Lande said.

The girls believe that becoming involved with organizations like Power Shift will help them prepare for deciding what to study in college and their future.

“I’m very interested to see what it looks like on a national scale because we have done something on the state level but nothing this big,” Showalter said.