Three students from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering of the Autonomous University of Yucatán (FIQ-UADY) attended the International Student Energy Summit 2023, in which more than 650 young people from 133 countries exchanged experiences regarding sustainability, climate change and energy efficiency.
The president and vice president of the Student Energy Commission at UADY, Sofía Morán Mena and Valkira Neve Urbina, respectively, as well as Alejandra Pech Lara, student of the institutional degree in Applied Chemistry, were selected to be part of this event held from November 28 to 1 December in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
In a meeting with the rector of the UADY, Carlos Alberto Estrada Pinto, and with the director of the FIQ-UADY, Dalmira Rodríguez Martín, the young women highlighted that this experience allowed them to expand their knowledge and learn more about the strategies that are implemented in other countries in order to pay attention to the care of the environment.
“We had the opportunity to be part of panel tables, conferences, and workshops where we could learn about the perspectives of other regions. We take all this knowledge and we want to see how we can implement it in our state. We are very proud because, in addition, we conducted interviews with panelists, Ambassadors and businessmen from African countries, Hong Kong and India, among others,” explained Sofía Morán.
In this regard, Valkira Neve emphasized that this is the first time that she has had the opportunity to represent the UADY in this type of summit and she feels proud of the results, since she realized that as students “we are capable, through our own efforts “, to open up our panorama and be aware that, from now on, we will continue working for our Faculty and our beloved State.”
He added that, in addition to having learned a lot, they were also able to generate links with people from other places and with those who maintain contact to be able to follow up on the actions that each one carries out from their country.
Finally, Alejandra Pech said she felt grateful to have been part of the Student Energy Summit, because a coexistence was achieved between “people who use different resources to care for energy and the environment; “Everyone from their own trenches does everything possible to contribute positively to the matter.”
In addition to what has already been expressed, the young women showed their excitement, since the Student Energy 2023 Summit was the preamble to the start of the 28th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which brought together leaders of all the world.
In this regard, the rector Estrada Pinto indicated that this is a result of the internationalization work that is promoted by the University and is a clear example of the opportunities that they want to provide to the students, because it allows them to give them another perspective on education and life.
“I am convinced of the importance of internationalization, what we are looking for when our students go abroad is for them to know another way of living, of learning, other cultures, other customs and that they take the good things from all of that so that we can apply them here ”, he stressed.
He mentioned that the University seeks to generate strategic alliances so that young people can live this experience that does not need to be a full semester, sometimes in just a few days they can learn a lot.
Finally, the director of FIQ-UADY, Rodríguez Martín, recalled that Student Energy at UADY is one of the strongest groups at the Faculty and that over time it has consolidated and despite the pandemic it managed to survive.
He recalled that, since its creation, the first members showed their interest in participating, although initially it began addressing only the energy transition; With the new directive, he continued, the panorama opened up and other topics began to be discussed.
In this sense, Sofía Morán stated that, upon assuming the presidency of this organization, she was authorized to address areas such as sustainability, social poverty, energy poverty and sustainable development goals (SDG), something that has been an example for the rest of the Chapters and general level.
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