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Young people can take action against climate change in their everyday lives, and 91̽��’s student environmentalists are hard at work to encourage earth-friendly practices on and off campus.

Actions as simple as being conscious of recycling and composting, turning off unused lights, and taking shorter showers can have a multiplier effect on students, says Ariane DesRosiers (I), co-head of the Lorax environmental group and the Gardening Club, green proctor in Hallowell House, and a leader on the Independent School Sustainability Coalition (ISSC), a network of students at more than 25 independent schools in New England working to make their campuses greener.

Over March break, Alex Wang (III) represented his home country of China at the Youth Forum 2019 held by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Alex was one of 42 youth delegates from 33 countries who gathered in Vienna over three days to share their experiences and ideas on topics such as drug-use prevention and rehabilitation.

“It was so interesting,” said Alex. “Although I’ve lived in a few different countries, I’ve never been to an event with people from around the world. It was refreshing and informative to hear their ideas, and then to share my ideas.”

The forum was composed of workshops and discussions, culminating with the writing of a formal statement. Alex was one of two delegates chosen to read the statement at the opening of the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the organization that supervises the application of the international drug control treaties.

Sixty-five million people around the world are displaced from their homes and on the move—the largest number of migrants in human history, humanitarian Cate Brown told students. They are refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced or stateless people who have uprooted their lives or been forced from home because of political oppression, violence, resource scarcity, and economic struggle, among other reasons.

The statistics around migration are overwhelming, Ms. Brown explained, and reflect the enormity of a crisis affecting every continent on earth, but they can distract from the human impact of migration. The average displacement time for a migrant is 17 years, and more than half of the world’s migrants are children.

JB Pritzker, Class of 1982 and the 43rd governor of the state of Illinois, will serve as Graduation day speaker on June 7, 2019.

“JB Pritzker is an extraordinarily generous spirit who has made an immeasurable difference in the lives of countless people throughout his community and beyond,” said Head of School Todd Bland. “Humble despite his huge influence, he is intelligent, relatable, and a kind-hearted leader—qualities to which we should all aspire. I am delighted to welcome him back to campus.”

Mixing punchy rhetoric and timely topics of conversation, comedian Negin Farsad showed students how she uses humor to explore ethnic, racial and religious stereotypes. An Iranian-American Muslim who grew up in Palm Springs, California, and whose teachers couldn’t pronounce her name, Ms. Farsad weaves personal stories with quick-witted humor to highlight the absurdity of stereotypes—why it’s important to reexamine iconic terms and images that perpetuate them.

Even with difficult topics such as Israel and Palestine, Ms. Farsad says, “We shouldn’t skirt around these issues and not talk about them. Don’t be afraid; it’s important to get into the issue.”