São Paulo – School Sesi Djalma Pessoa in Salvador, Brazil is a finalist of Zayed Sustainability Prize this year. The award recognizes pioneering sustainability initiatives across five categories, including Global High Schools. The institution is the only Brazilian school selected for the category this year, but others had been finalists in previous editions. Two students and a teacher (pictured above) from the school will go to the awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, next Monday (13).
The award goes to 10 best innovation sustainable projects developed by high school students. The Brazilians are competing with the Undergraduate Research in Green Technologies, which encompasses researches that the school has developed since 2012.
Teacher Fernando Moutinho, coordinator of the Undergraduate Research at Rede Sesi, will accompany the students to the UAE. “It’s both culturally and technologically interesting, as the UAE has a high-end technology, and it’s the first time we’ll have access to that. In a way, it will have a large impact on our work. Regardless the results, we’re already winners, since the selection is nationwide. It’s an achievement being recognized by such an important organization. We’re on the right track,” Moutinho told ANBA.
The teacher believes their greatest asset was opening a laboratory so that the students do their own research. “The solutions are developed by the student. The intention is their environmental education and scientific initiation,” Moutinho talked about the work that is guided by the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
If the school wins the USD 100,000 prize, it’ll expand the individual projects into a whole sustainability program. “We’ve started tentatively and reached our peak in 2018, when we participated in world events and Brazil fairs. I saw that what the Zayed Award seeks in shaping global leaders is close to what we’re doing,” Moutinho considered.
The teacher explains that the students are not divided by age or school years in their lab projects. “We aim at the diversity. Each one has a different knowledge and they can expand their vision. They are able to not only associate what they learn in the classroom but extrapolate, they go to colleges, talk with professors,” he pointed out.
Nicole Melo is one of the students that will go to Abu Dhabi representing the school. “I learned that Sesi was one of the few schools that offered an undergrad research and I chose to come here. I believe this is one of the most important activities for my life. There’s no gender or age division. We can have this interchange between generations. I’m quite happy. Our project aims at giving sustainability a leading role in science projects developed by young people. It’s us that take care of the lab. We develop our independence here,” she finished.
Jeferson Costa, the student that will travel to the UAE for the first time, says that he engaged in the lab projects last year. “It’s a unique opportunity. We don’t know many other young people producing science and I started looking at things and thinking on solutions,” says the student who develops a research on the use of araçá extract, a Brazilian non-conventional vegetable, to fight the proliferation of Aedes Aegypti larvae.
Now the student prepares for new cultural learnings. “Participating in the undergrad research is awesome. Being able to visit Abu Dhabi is something I wouldn’t have the chance to do anywhere else, neither being surrounded by other people who also believe in sustainability. I’m overwhelmed,” said the student.
Offered by the emirate of Abu Dhabi, the name of the prize is a tribute to the founder of the UAE, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
