On April 22, Irvine City Council approved the extension of the Irvine CONNECT bus route, a city-run bus service, to Northwood High School. While not the sole contributor, this decision was largely pioneered by the students of Northwood’s Interdisciplinary Climate Explorations class.

You may also be familiar with some of the class’s other projects, such as the native vegetation planted around the school and the new food packaging at the cafeteria.

“[This class] isn’t really an academic class, it’s an action class,” senior Iris Somasunduram said. “It’s a class where, instead of just hearing about climate change, you’re the one who gets to write the narrative.” 

Somasunduram, who was in the class last year, was one of the students responsible for petitioning the city council to extend the Irvine CONNECT route, aiming to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from traffic.

“That is a great example of what happens when you are engaged and when you advocate for yourself,” District 1 Councilmember Melinda Liu said to Northwood Howler accent editor sophomore Jay Bruce in May. “Our office followed up with them and we had meetings, we had presentations, and I connected the students with project results to Public Works.” 

By prioritizing concerted and focused local issues rather than working on a large scale, students are able to channel their efforts into tangible change. This year, students are gearing up for its third year of climate action.

“I am most excited about the opportunity to help make changes within my community,” junior Kiyan Parizi said. “For example, our class is planning a holiday thrift shop where anyone can bring clothes that they don’t want, and we’re planning to use them to set up a school-wide thrift shop.”

This classwide project comes as part of a brand new unit in the course on fast fashion, where students work together to locally address fashion waste. In addition, they plan on working with Northwood’s fashion club, Love and Lace, to teach students how to alter and repair their clothes to minimize clothing waste.

“I think especially now, in the world, we need to have more focus on the environment and being more mindful of what we do,” Love and Lace president senior Glory Parel said. “I think [this class] is really helpful for that.”