Mexican student envisions “green school” at 2017 California LDZ

At the 2017 California LDZ — becoming an annual gathering for American and Mexican students at the University of San Diego — only one piece of legislation found its way to passage this year. But in a development perhaps fitting for 2017, that bill had the entire world and its changing climate in mind.

Annel Borque Reyes, of Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey in Torreon, Mexico, wrote the bill “Create a Green School.”

She said, regarding the creation of the bill, “The planet is my inspiration, because it is the only one we have. Coming out of an outdoor building — feeling the sun, feeling the life that surrounds us — it’s incredible. That experience is incomparable, and if we want to continue to have it, we need to do something about it. I envision a community in which people not only respect each other, but the life which surrounds them as well.”

Though the program involved a geographically diverse group of students from Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, and Mexico, both the Governor and Lieutenant Governor hailed from the same city.

Nicolas Gonzalez, from El Paso High School in El Paso, Texas, called the California LDZ “the next step in my NHI journey,” adding, “I wanted to apply the skills I’d learned at the Great Debate, and honestly, it just sounded like it was fun to do.”

While he wanted to have an influential role in this year’s NHI, he characterizes his run for Governor as something that was part of the process of getting to know people, and getting caught up in the excitement of the event, rather than something he’d sought going into it. “Running for Governor just seemed like the logical choice at that point in time … and it stuck!”

Ariadne Garcia, from Socorro High School in El Paso, saw her role as Lieutenant Governor as a challenge, but understood the importance of the role, particularly in “listening to everyone’s opinions, and realize that at the end of the day, not everyone’s going to agree with each other.” She added, “To me, the idea of the LDZ in my opinion, is not to listen to everybody’s idea and pick one, but to collaborate and learn from each other.”

The 2017 California LDZ concludes tomorrow.