Bloomberg Projects
In 2024, the City of New Westminster was approached by the Bloomberg foundation with a proposal: they would give young people grants to create projects in the city which would enhance or help bring a positive message about the environment and the future. So of course we applied!
We submitted three project ideas, two of which were selected by the committee:
"Change Starts with Education"
On this proposal, we suggested that, to make things really better for climate action, we needed to get the community more aware of what is the real cause of climate change, and how to fix it. So, we proposed that more climate education should be added to elementary and middle school. We suggested creating an escape room that could visit middle schools, providing middle school kits with a real, gut-gripping experience that shows what could happen if we don't change our ways, and what to do now to improve things. We had a lot of fun creating the escape room, which ended up being a huge success with everyone who tried it, students and teachers included!
As it turns out, it was very difficult to implement because it could only have six participants at a time, so we still need to figure out how to expand on it!
We also suggested creating boxes with smart farming coding kits for elementary schools, but once we got the kits, we noticed they seemed way harder than elementary schools could use, so we changed the focus to be middle school as well. Each box contained eight kits, plenty to use on a classroom, all at once! The boxes with the smart farming kits were delivered to the library at FRMS for distribution with other schools (two per middle school).
We also suggested creating boxes with smart farming coding kits for elementary schools, but once we got the kits, we noticed they seemed way harder than elementary schools could use, so we changed the focus to be middle school as well. Each box contained eight kits, plenty to use on a classroom, all at once! The boxes with the smart farming kits were delivered to the library at FRMS for distribution with other schools (two per middle school).
The Hope Mural
We proposed to have a giant mural painted in the City, with an image of positivity and hope towards the future. We worked hard to come up with a few concepts which were nice and positive, and of course also came up with a bunch of concepts that were a bit more rebellious because we're the Rebel Monkeys, after all. And we got the grant for it!
We decided to expand on our idea to create a giant update on the Game of Life, "Climate Action edition (still in process) as well as a giant moving mural backdrop to use when we need it.
We decided to expand on our idea to create a giant update on the Game of Life, "Climate Action edition (still in process) as well as a giant moving mural backdrop to use when we need it.
Once we decided on an idea for our Hope Mural, however, we could not find a place for a mural. We tried asking businesses around after the City said they did not really have a wall available, but nothing. So we asked the school district, and after some time, they finally got back to us saying they could let us have the wall outside Fraser River Middle School!
We were given a wall to work with, which faces a lot of traffic.
We are currently getting ready to paint it in April 2026!
We are currently getting ready to paint it in April 2026!
LET'S GO!
This is the wall location, at FRMS!
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This is our proposed design!
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