Hi John,

I was supposed to start my senior year of high school two weeks ago. Instead of sitting in the classroom, I spent the week training a hundred other highschoolers to take over their schools and win a Green New Deal in every school district. We just finished running Sunrise’s first-ever Summer Camp, and this country isn’t ready for what we have in store. 

My name is Ariela, and I’m 17 years old. For the last 5 months, myself and other teenagers have been preparing to train the next generation of climate leaders. I’ve met with dozens of students inviting them to camp, worked with my team to discuss our campaign, and prepared to tell my story in front of total strangers.

This work is hard. Between juggling classes and extracurriculars, being in Sunrise isn’t an easy commitment to make. But I’m here because I believe in the power of our generation, and the past two weeks, I saw dozens of other highschoolers just like me feel inspired to act. When we’re alone, it’s easy to feel scared or discouraged. When we’re together, as organized people our generation becomes unstoppable. 

I’ll never forget the memories I made at camp. I was nervous to speak in front of all the students, but once I was at the front of the room, I was ready to talk about the stakes of the climate crisis and expose how fossil fuel billionaires keep us divided and powerless. I felt a power surge through me when we had a mock-rally at our ‘school board,’ and I saw dozens of students collectively chant and march holding banners for the Green New Deal for Schools. Over dinner with my cabin-mates, we talked about what it will take to confront the fossil fuel industry as a generation, and our dreams and fears for the future. At camp, I felt hope come alive.

Now, 120 students from 45 schools are ready to take our demands directly to our school districts. We’ll be talking to our peers, collecting petition signatures, and visiting our school boards all fall. We’ve got what it takes to win real change in our communities. Together, we will transition our buildings and buses to clean energy, rewrite our curriculum to include the full realities of the climate crisis, give all students free, sustainable school lunches, make schools places of refuge for when climate disasters strike, and prepare every single student for a good-paying union job in the new green economy. 

Thank you so much for everything you did to help make Summer Camp happen, John. If you’d like to continue your support this fall, please consider making a donation (any amount helps!) to help launch our campaigns over the next two months.

Donate $5 

Check out some more photos from camp!

I’ll always remember the friendships I made at camp, but camp was just the beginning. I’ll be honest: I’m nervous about taking on this campaign, but with a community backing me, I know we have what it takes to organize our schools. 

Ariela