Stay Home, but stay Active!
This is the challenge that YRE International is launching to prove that you, as a student, can still be an ambassador of the environment and influence your community while being at home. Indeed, YRE students from all around the world show solidarity by staying inside to avoid the spread of COVID-19, but FEE and the YRE programme also want to transform this unusual time into an opportunity for you to keep investigating environmental topics and to have a little fun!
Every week, we will be sharing ideas on how you can still be involved in the YRE programme and gain new skills, raise awareness and investigate environmental issues from home. You will be able to participate in a variety of activities - from webinars to short videos challenges - together with students from all around the world. We hope you'll share your positive stories!
Participate in the challenges and win prizes!
Weekly challenges will be published on different social media platforms of YRE International, e.g. Facebook and Instagram. Choose a challenge you want to participate in and respond to it by making one or more posts on social media. You can write and publish in English or in your national language, but don’t forget to make your posts public and to tag YRE International and your national YRE organisation, so we can share your stories!
For longer articles, photo stories and videos, YRE students can publish these globally on YRE Hub in English. Please contact your National Operator to access the platform.
Challenges are open to any young person willing to participate!
Special Competition for #YREstayshome
Your work in the YRE challenges has the chance of being rewarded with special prizes! Remember that your contribution can be anything from a short funny video about your life at home to a well-researched scientific article. Stories from the five following categories can be nominated to participate in this special competition:
Written story
Single photo (with or without a caption)
Short video (max. 1 minute)
Most active participant (the participant should make min. 3 different posts/stories)
Special category (open for any other type of action, e.g. podcast, vlog, etc.)
Nominating YRE participants and stories
YRE National Operators from each country are allowed to nominate one participant/story for each of the five categories that they believe is the very best contribution to the #YREstayshome campaign. There are very few criteria to be followed. The nominated stories must simply:
be in English (or translated into English)
have been published either on YRE Hub and/or on social media using the hashtag #YREstayshome
highlight a topic within sustainable development
fit into one of the five categories above
be sent to YRE International before Friday 26 June 2020
As always, we encourage the stories to be constructive, creative and hopeful!
Finding the winners:
All the nominees will be presented to the YRE National Operators who will give points to the ones they believe are the best. To ensure fairness, they are not allowed to vote for stories from their own countries.
The winners of each of the five categories of the #YREstayshome challenge will receive diplomas from YRE International and small financial prizes.
Online Meetings and Webinars
This is also a time to get together online and remain connected despite the physical distance. From Monday 30 April, online meetings will be held for teachers, students, coordinators, and anyone in the network of YRE, Eco-Schools and LEAF. This is an opportunity to exchange experiences, share thoughts, and to develop connections between countries.
If you are interested in participating in these meetings, please contact your National Operator.
And proving once again that “Once YRE, forever YRE”, alumni from the programme have already offered to run webinars and presentations to keep students engaged and help them develop specific skills to become better reporters and youth leaders.
Click here for more detailed information about upcoming webinars.
Stay tuned and stay inside!