Small acts, big impact. An important reminder from the 2026 Ecology Symposium

Last Thursday, as part of Round Square, a few students and I had the opportunity to attend the Ecology Symposium at Waverley College. Having only been running for three years, this was fortunately my second year attending the event.

One of my favourite parts of the symposium was the opportunity to connect with students from other schools. We met students from nine different schools across NSW, ranging in ages and backgrounds. I particularly enjoyed speaking with other like-minded individuals, learning about the initiatives their schools had introduced, like a student-led bookswap or a house return-and-earn challenge, and hearing the different perspectives students brought to developing new solutions for the challenges we face in our local communities.

But what makes this symposium so special is truly its speakers. This year, we were fortunate enough to hear from four speakers, each sharing their own journey and how they first became passionate about supporting the environment through their respective endeavours.

One of our speakers, Sam Fricker, founder of Sam’s Straws, shared how his interest in environmental issues began during his teenage years, and how he used his existing passions for diving and social media as a way to explore solutions to environmental problems. At just 16, he took the initiative to turn an idea into something tangible, developing a business that aimed to tackle the issue of single-use plastic straws through wheat straws. Another speaker was Kal Glanznig, Australia’s Youth Ocean Advocate for COP31, who spoke about how his environmental journey began with something as simple as advocating for solar panels at his high school. He shared how this initial interest grew into a bigger commitment and advocacy to environmental action.

For me, one of the most inspiring aspects of the event was seeing how each speaker had such different reasons for why they began caring about and taking action on environmental issues. Their stories showed that there is no ‘one way’ or ‘right time’ to begin making a difference, and that sometimes the smallest ideas or actions can be the starting point for something much bigger. Most importantly, it was a reminder that even as teenagers, despite the limitations we might feel due to our lack of age or experience, all we really need is an idea and perseverance to create a small solution that can have a big impact.

– Caydence Sumantri (Year 10)
IDEALS Society