A 4 - The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday A p ril 2, 2003 QEP impresses environment ambassador By Howard Mozel OAKVILLE BEAVER STAR Canadians remain on the forefront of the environmental field, says Gilbert Parent, and nowhere is the grassroots application of this leadership more evident than at Oakville's Queen Elizabeth Park (QEP) School. Parent - a former NCAA athlete, high school educator. MP and Speaker of the House - is now Canada's special ambassa dor for the environment. In that role, he applauded the QEP student body's many social, environmental and charitable efforts, which range from last year's racial toler ance conference to fundraising events like this week's Lasagna Night and the clean-up of neighbouring ravines. As one of the most "environmentally sound schools in Canada," said Parent. QEP was an ideal venue in which to speak. The occasion to do so was Friday's Environmental Conference, where Parent explained that he is one of three special Canadian ambassadors asked to accept their posts by the Prime Minister. In this role. Parent says he enjoys speaking to young people and. judging by the crowd's atten tiveness. the feeling was mutual. r Kgg < -- !<; " Everything we do impacts the environn e nC' who t said Parent, was V Heffeman. "Not just trees, water Environment ambassador and the wind, but Gilbert Parent the way we live." Parent - who said he travelled 204.000 miles last year, or eight times around the world, as environ mental ambassador - told his young QEP audience they arc living on the cusp of what he called the "hydrogen society" and that their generation will take this fuel source for granted like those his age do gasoline. Canada is a world leader in hydrogen technology, said Parent, who envisions a time not too far off when this abundant ele ment will be produced right in individual residences to meet all the homeowners' energy needs. This, he believes, will be as commonplace as personal computers. "You are living the future." said Parent. "We should be proud of what we can do and who we are." In the meantime. Parent said he admires what the students have accomplished and told them to keep up the good work. According to Heffeman, Friday's con ference was designed to challenge students to do something positive and the environ ment was selected, lie explained, because of its political neutrality. Organizers started working toward the day 18 months ago and once they landed keynote speaker Parent, the conference was built around him. The other guests - repre sentatives of Oakvillegrcen and Tenratec were lined up by students. The day also fea tured a host of displays staffed by students which ran the gamut of topics from meat alternatives to Greenpeace. Heffeman explained that environmental issues have transcended the theoretical stage at QEP so student action is both hands-on and practical. Grades 9 and 10 pupils, for example, are designing the envi ronmental plan for the new Glen Abbey high school, which will open in Sept. 2004. This includes planning gardens, organizing the facility's Blue Box program and finding ways to cut down on the amount of garbage produced - in short, says Heffeman, how to make the school greener. Home and school delegates eye changes to school population size (Continued from page A1) On the issue of class size, up for debate is whether to support an idea to lobby the Minister of Education to cap enrollment at new and existing elementary schools at 4(X) students and secondary schools a maximum of 900. According to the resolution proposed, it is believed smaller schools provide far superior learning environments, especially for children who are at risk, disadvantaged and marginalized. The provincial Association also wants to discuss with members whether it should petition the education ministry to consider using Early Child Educators as Junior Kindergarten teachers and primary teach ers. As far as student testing is concerned, the association wants to make student test ing more clearly and easily understood, less stressful and intense -- where Grade 3 stu dents. for example, aren't subjected to three hours of daily testing over a period of five days. The Home & School Association also wants to mandate the government to pro vide these tests results within the same school year, to stop ranking schools by results and adopt random-sample testing instead of annual large-scale province-wide testing. Educating and encouraging students about skilled trades, including apprentice ships is another point for discussion during the weekend conference. This recommendation focuses on urging the Ministry of Education to fund design, industrial arts and technical programs for senior elementary grades, as well as offer broad-based technical courses in secondary schools. Delegates are also attending workshops on infusing daily fitness into children's lives, teaching children about media litera cy and critical thinking, and career aware ness programs. President Lesley Schuurs said "the Ontario Federation of Home and School Associations is a an organization of volun teers. a place where parents come together to support each other and work toward the best for each student." The weekend conference is at the Holiday Inn Express on Wyecroft Road. For more information call 519-756-5145. P L A C E Y O U R BID A T www.stardreamdays.com See complete catalogue in TO R O N TO STAR E. 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