Scott Jamieson: Yeah, welcome to the Empathy, to impact Podcast very excited today to be connecting back
Scott Jamieson: with some change makers from the American International School in Budapest. I had the privilege of visiting back in March of 2025 to attend their Changemaker Conference, and really excited to have a couple of students from Aisb on the call with me to talk a little bit about their experience at the conference, and share a little bit about why events like this are so important for young people to get involved in.
Scott Jamieson: So before we start, I'm going to pass over to my guests to say a quick introduction.
Alex (he/him): Hello! My name is Aronia. I'm in grade 10 in Aisb.
Alex (he/him): I'm Alex. I'm in grade 9 aisp.
Alex (he/him): I'm sure I'm in grade 9, and also at aisp.
Scott Jamieson: So great to see you guys again. It was great to have an opportunity to meet face to face at the conference.
Scott Jamieson: Tell me a little bit about how all this got started at your school. Where did this idea come from? To host? A change, Mayor Conference at your school.
Alex (he/him): I would say it started when I wasn't actually part of the team when they went to this Frankfurt change making conference. But the 1st one back in 2023, the one in Frankfurt. I think that was where it really got started. A lot of the Aisb kids who went, came back feeling really inspired and feeling like they wanted to tackle something similar.
Scott Jamieson: So thinking about that inspiration at Frankfurt, and then the conference moving to Munich last year.
Scott Jamieson: What helped you decide at your school to say, Hey, this is something we want to bring to our community
Scott Jamieson: rather than somebody else, hosting the events and going to see that as kind of delegation from your school.
Alex (he/him): I think that the minds we have at Asp or the people at least, they're like very forward thinking, and they want to take initiative on things so we would love to attend a conference in another country. But I think that we took it as a challenge on ourselves.
Alex (he/him): as it is a student-led club with Mr. Rowe being like a supervisor and like group leader. But it's a student led club who are taking initiative and making things happen, instead of going to another country and attending it to observe, we wanted to be the ones who create something beautiful, meaningful, and inspiring to others.
Scott Jamieson: You guys are welcome to jump in. Add on anything I think around you did a pretty good job covering that. But just yeah, you just jump in whenever you want to.
Scott Jamieson: And I just derailed my own train of thought there.
Scott Jamieson: So I like how, Arani I like how you mentioned that this is a student led initiative, and you definitely have some support from some amazing people at your school. Mr. Fairway, for sure, is involved in to support you guys. But a lot of the work that went into this conference was really done by
Scott Jamieson: students.
Scott Jamieson: Tell me a little bit about the work involved in hosting an event like this.
Alex (he/him): I think there's really a lot of different things that go into it. We ended up splitting into different groups to focus on different things. But we had people working on facilities, you know, making sure that everyone has a hotel that they can stay at and making sure that like transportation is provided, though it like
Alex (he/him): being able to balance it with the hopeful sustainability of the conference. Added some work to it that wouldn't usually be there when hosting a conference. So things like that facilities, also communications making sure people get invites. It's a lot more work that goes into a conference than I originally thought there would be. But yeah.
Alex (he/him): and we also had a lot of thinking about what the conference would look like and what kind of things would be going on in the conference. So throughout the year, in the club, at least during our club sessions, we were constantly thinking of new ideas and not just thinking of them, but like fully implementing them. For example, I remember in one club session Alex pitched the idea of a synergy set where at the beginning and end of the day. Groups could have a reflection period where they reflect on how the day went
Alex (he/him): or what what they think is going to happen next, which I think was a brilliant idea. And we also had different groups, such as Me and Shua were part of the podcasting group, which we got to hear the voices of different people in the conference.
Alex (he/him): So I think by being by the Conference being student led. We got to relate much more to what students would like and what would be the most important to spread the message that we're trying to give. Yeah, really, most of the work was like collaboration, like, I feel like a lot of what you said and like
Alex (he/him): the idea with, like the synergy sets like I feel like it was really something that came together with. Like everyone, like so many of these ideas of things that happened at the conference were just so collaboration focused. So I feel like the work you you asked about the work, and it feels like the work itself is just being able to work with other people, because once you have that down, the actual workload gets lightened.
Scott Jamieson: I like that. And absolutely, yeah. Working together as a team. Arania and Alex, you guys both talked about working in groups.
Scott Jamieson: How did people sort of find their groups within your group, these little subgroups that were in charge of different pieces of the conference. How did that work to kind of divide up some of these responsibilities, and, like, you say, work collaboratively to really bring this vision to life.
Alex (he/him): Well, for me, at least, I'm a little. I'm kind of a newcomer to the club. I joined the club this year in hopes to get involved with the work of the club. So when I joined, people were already knew where they were. So I was kind of like a floater, not sure where, where I could give purpose. And then I found the podcasting group.
Alex (he/him): And I thought I could give good ideas here I could actually contribute my own thinking. So I think it came down to what we want to do for the conference, and what would be best for the conference, keeping both of those things in mind. Absolutely. I was
Alex (he/him): having joined a few years back. I was there when we 1st like, got into our groups and formed our groups. And for me, how that happened was just since I didn't feel like I had a particular calling to any of the groups. I just waited for everyone to pick out their groups and then put myself where there was the least people. Because I think creating space for people who want to join certain groups to allow them to join those and not feel pressured to join others.
Alex (he/him): I think that ended up working out really. Well, Shua, how about you? What is your experience? I'm also a newcomer in the Change Makers Club and I was offered to join the podcasting group, together with Avanya and Damien and Damien led me to the 1st interview which was with Mr. Lavoie. So that was a new experience for me.
Scott Jamieson: I like how you're using.
Scott Jamieson: I like how you guys are talking about helping people find their strengths and being able to use the different strengths within your group and around, you talk about podcasting and something you kind of gravitated to, because it's something you're interested in. I think it's so cool when we can kind of play to our strengths, and we sometimes think about that as like a constellation
Scott Jamieson: like, we all have these different strengths, we bring to the group, and some of them are hidden. Sometimes we don't know, and finding out what people are good at, what they'd like to do. We're a lot more likely to get our work done if it's something we enjoy.
Scott Jamieson: So I think that's really cool to kind of help people to kind of find things they're passionate about, whereas you said, Hey, let's let everybody else find their spot, and I can do a few different things. I'll follow kind of fill in some gaps. I think that's important, too, is kind of have people to kind of be that glue, that kind of fits things together. So it sounds really cool.
Scott Jamieson: Alex, you also mentioned something about sustainable when we're talking about planning the conference. What were some things that you did as organizers to ensure the conference was as sustainable as possible.
Alex (he/him): Well, I think one of the biggest things was so the middle schoolers were actually helping to run the food team and what we asked them to focus on, was making sure that the menu was vegetarian and vegan when it could be I think it may have ended up being Vegan for the whole conference. I'm not sure but
Alex (he/him): I think that was a big part of it, because food has, like a lot of animal products have a really large environmental footprint, and when you're serving on such a large basis of like 200 visitors at least, then like it, it adds up. So being able to limit that footprint, I think, was a big thing.
Alex (he/him): Another thing we did was invite when we, when it came to inviting guests to the conference. We thought about some really inspirational and influential figures in the community. And that's how we came to the decision of inviting some of our guests so we could spread, spread that message of sustainability and keep it going. Keep keep it going as a theme throughout the conference.
Scott Jamieson: Fantastic. I think it was so cool to see how that kind of was part of the thought process and part of the design of the conference. You know, we're talking about sustainability. We're talking about working towards our a more sustainable and just and equitable future. And if we're all kind of sitting here eating sushi or something like this that's not particularly sustainable. Then we're really kind of missing the mark, I think.
Scott Jamieson: and I can certainly speak for someone who was at the conference, and the food was fantastic, and it was just really cool. I think people noticed that effort to be a little bit more sustainable, and I think it's important the messaging in all the things we do at the conference. I think that's something we really want to be conscious of. I think you guys did a great job with that.
Scott Jamieson: Tell me a little bit about the conference itself, like for those who are listening who weren't as lucky as us to be able to attend over that time in March of 2025, when we are all gathered at Aisb.
Scott Jamieson: Tell us about what that was like to be there in that space being part of the conference. Just your own personal experience, some of the highlights. But just really kind of a big picture overview to kind of give people an understanding of how things went during those days at the conference.
Alex (he/him): So a highlight for me was the dockathon films. There were some. There were 3 inspirational films made from across the world.
Alex (he/him): and we actually had Aranya and and Alex voting on those films for the winner. So for me, that was really inspirational, and the videos were really well done
Alex (he/him): for me.
Alex (he/him): overall as a conference when the 1st visitors came from a school called Dbis.
Alex (he/him): and the process of you know how getting people to enter the conference and giving them their stickers, their badges, and guiding them throughout the school. At 1st it was a bit hectic, because, you know. There was a group of 8 that came in. And then I realized, Oh, my God! 200 more people are gonna come. And this is going to be really hectic.
Alex (he/him): But when I when everyone came and I looked into the Npr, that's when I realized that all the work that people have been putting in throughout the months of like organizing. This conference is actually like I can see it real life.
Alex (he/him): And that's where I met you in the 1st time in the Npr. And I found out how amazing our guests were, and what kind of people were inviting and overall. I just felt like I was surrounded by positivity. Yeah, I mean, I think all of all of this work that we, as a conference team have put in, but also, like seeing all of the work that, like other schools and students and teachers have taken to be able to come here like just we.
Alex (he/him): we knew this group of like 20 or 30 students at Aisb cared about change making, but
Alex (he/him): to realize that there were truly people who were across the region who were taking time out of their school days to be able to come, join us and learn something from us. I think
Alex (he/him): just that in itself was inspiration to know that there are still people that care, and there are still people that are going to be change makers if they're not already, and I feel like sorry you can go, and one more highlight for me was being locked together with you in the backstage because you were obviously presenting, and the door wouldn't open. So that was a fun experience.
Alex (he/him): And I think the conference in itself posed as a model for what real life is, because, the Conference had challenges in and of itself, like guiding people through our school, which we keep, people kept telling us was massive. And
Alex (he/him): and there were problems throughout the thing that we were like proactively solving. And it made me realize that life is going to be like this, that when you're fighting for the right cause. There's gonna be challenges that come your way. But obviously, when you're making fun experiences and you're fighting these challenges with the right people. That's what matters the most. In my opinion.
Scott Jamieson: Absolutely. And I think there's always gonna be a few wrinkles behind the scenes at an event like this.
Scott Jamieson: But I don't think the attendees really noticed you guys did such a great job of keeping things going when things kind of went a little bit pear shaped Shuo and I, getting stuck backstage. For a little while it was great. We had front row seats to the some of the talks that were going on in the theater, and yeah, it was no big deal we got sorted out, shout out to mad courses as well. Who put on the dockathon? They did a fantastic job. We saw some really cool films. I think that was a really cool aspect of the conference.
Scott Jamieson: My favorite part, though, we've done our workshops, we listened to some really inspirational people sharing their stories, students and other guests who were there. But my favorite part was Saturday.
Scott Jamieson: We all come in. We're in the gym. This whole group. 10 schools, probably about 200 people thinking about.
Scott Jamieson: What next?
Scott Jamieson: What are we going to take away from this experience, going back to our own communities. And what kind of difference might we be able to make through working with our own community partners at our school, thinking about things? We're passionate about thinking about some of the tools that we've learned during that conference and some of their amazing workshops, a lot of which were student led
Scott Jamieson: and being able to see all these people kind of coming up with some ideas, and how to make some positive change in their community. That was my favorite part of the conference and just getting a chance to go around and talk to different people from different schools and hear some of their inspiring ideas. I think it was just such a great energy, and Alex was talking about just something positive.
Scott Jamieson: and seeing how much that all these people you know across the region, not just at your school, really kind of care about making the world a better place. And I think that was really, really inspiring.
Scott Jamieson: How close did we land to the mark with the conference, thinking about your vision leading up to this and all the work kind of preparing for it.
Scott Jamieson: How close did we get to kind of meeting aspirations for the aisp change makers. Thinking about your experience at the conference, compared to everything you kind of drew up, leading up to it.
Alex (he/him): Thanks. I I think when you look at the details, I think we probably, you know, missed the mark by a mile, but when you look at
Alex (he/him): our goal and what we wanted to come out of with it and it we we hit the nail right on the head. I think we got what we really wanted to get out of that we were able to send people away feeling inspired and feeling ready to take action, and even though half the details went totally haywire, like
Alex (he/him): really, ultimately, the goal was to create change makers. So as long as we've done that, and I think we did. Then I think we we totally hit the mark.
Alex (he/him): Yeah, to add on to Alex. I think that 1st you have to think of what defines hitting the mark. And what defines, you know, getting that goal. And just as you were saying right now on Saturday, when I, when in the final moments when everyone was showing up their sheet and making up and showing their plans, moving forward from the conference. I think the fact that we didn't have a single empty sheet
Alex (he/him): is is hitting the mark for the conference because we we were able to inspire change. That hasn't already happened yet, and we were able to make people think and take action, and I think the fact that we were able to do this as a community and be surrounded by positive energy is hitting the mark, in my opinion, like just like leaving the conference. As I was walking to the bus, I felt like
Alex (he/him): I felt something like different inside of me that I didn't feel before that
Alex (he/him): like a rage of positivity, in my opinion. Yeah, like you mentioned the seeing like, none of the pages are blank and like.
Alex (he/him): I think, that's big and amazing. And also, like, you see, people like write on pages and still do nothing about it. But the really big thing I saw is that nobody left those papers behind. Every school took those papers with them when they left, which really shows that, like they've made these plans. And they've learned these tools. And now they're gonna go do it. They're not leaving this paper. They're gonna go put it in place, and that just felt
Alex (he/him): really good to see that.
Scott Jamieson: That sounds amazing. And yeah, if that's missing the mark I can only imagine what what aspirations must look like coming into it. I think it was such an amazing experience, such a positive place for a lot of collaboration. A lot of new relationships were made between people from different schools.
Scott Jamieson: another thing that I think is really important about this conference is.
Scott Jamieson: we have a lot of people who care about the world and aspire to be change makers, but if we don't have the tools and strategies and frameworks
Scott Jamieson: to be able to lead a project oftentimes
Scott Jamieson: to borrow Alex's word, we might miss the mark
Scott Jamieson: like we have all these aspirations, but that's what I thought was so cool about the conference. There were workshops using
Scott Jamieson: the compass and some of the compass, tools from compass education.
Scott Jamieson: There were workshops thinking about systems, thinking
Scott Jamieson: there were workshops, thinking about fast fashion futures, thinking strategies, using strategic foresight.
Scott Jamieson: All these really cool tools
Scott Jamieson: that as change makers, we can use to really help us to have that positive impact we aspire towards. And I think there was such a cool balance of learning and kind of being in workshops, led by students and other guests.
Scott Jamieson: and then being able to think about all right, how do we apply this now? All right, I've got my issue that I care about. And now I've got some ideas on how to design a project that's going to be impactful and meaningful, addressing authentic community needs. And I think that just led to some really cool energy.
Scott Jamieson: What would you ask or sorry? Now, I'm gonna show that again.
Scott Jamieson: What advice might you give to people who are listening who don't have a space for change makers at their school? They don't have a club. They don't have time during their schedule, but they want to start something up. They're maybe inspired listening to your story and thinking about the kind of work that you're doing as change makers.
Scott Jamieson: What's some advice that you all might give to and school thinking about going down this path and starting a pro, starting a club, or starting a program to empower change makers at their school.
Alex (he/him): Well, in my opinion, being change makers isn't isn't just going to our Monday Club sessions, or it isn't, you know, filling out a document saying, I'm part of the Change Makers Club being a change maker is is like.
Alex (he/him): it's, it's a it's your as a person I think anyone can be a change maker or anyone is a everyone is a change maker by the fact that we all have the ability to make change. We all have the ability to make positive change. And if anybody wants to start a club or wants to do something new within the school community or outside community. I think it's it's important to communicate your ideas
Alex (he/him): which cause your ideas will never be heard if you don't tell anybody about them. And it's important to, you know. Try your best to take initiative on them, and I know it may seem hard to make something come to real life. But if you just take this conference, for example. It would. This was a group of 2030 people getting people from all around the world and having a 4 Day Conference, which was extremely successful in my opinion.
Alex (he/him): I think also, part of it is finding something that you're passionate about
Alex (he/him): and using the tools, such as the iceberg model to, you know, effectively make an impact. Because I think if you find something that you're really passionate about, that's easy to make yourself stand out. And those stakeholders, they will notice you and they will help you to create that impact within your community. Yeah. And like.
Alex (he/him): there was, I was. I had been talking to a student from another school in the courtyard, Anastasia and I was talking to her about how I like. I didn't know how I wanted to go about change making, because I hadn't really found my passion yet, and she was like.
Alex (he/him): you don't need to find your passion. You just
Alex (he/him): see a problem and fix it. And I think that's another big thing is that if if you want to be a change maker, you don't have to go on this deep self, reflecting journey where you find this one thing that's always, truly been on your mind and is a part of you.
Alex (he/him): You just see a problem. And you say, Hey, I can do something about that. And you can even say I can't do anything about that. But I can talk to people about it and raise awareness about it and try until I can do something about it. And I think that's
Alex (he/him): the biggest thing with change making is trying seeing a problem and trying to fix it and not just trying. But I think caring as well just that ability to. I care about this issue. I generally think that this issue can be solved, and there's not enough initiative on this issue. We should do something about this just having that mindset in your brain. I think that's
Alex (he/him): it's gonna take you far. And also, you know, taking that action, even if you have uncertainties. Because there's no guarantee that anything will be successful. But it's important to
Alex (he/him): venture out. And, you know, make that attempt. Yeah, obviously, I don't think you're gonna be successful in your very 1st try of doing something new, but that taking steps of failure is only going to get you close to success.
Scott Jamieson: I like how you talk about that. And we're not always gonna kind of hit the mark, like you guys say, but it's that work like the effort that goes into that. And maybe we are going to have, maybe not the impact we are looking for, but still a positive impact.
Scott Jamieson: We often talk about the sustainable development goals. And these are big, big, big global issues. But if we can think about what does that look like? What does that sound like? What does that feel like reading my community? We might be able to see some entry points where we might be able to like, Alex said. Maybe we're just raising awareness or we're sharing about a community organization that's doing some amazing work. Maybe we have an opportunity to work collaboratively to learn
Scott Jamieson: from an act. With this organization, we're not the 1st ones to come up with these problems. There's other people in our community probably already working on that maybe we can make a connection there and support their work in different ways. But, Arani, you're right. It's all about mindset.
Scott Jamieson: right? And having that Changemaker mindset is so so important, the idea that the future is not fixed, that our actions matter.
Scott Jamieson: and they matter, that we're doing something positive to work towards the future we want to live in, but also inspiring others through our action, who see us doing our work and say, Hey, I can be part of that, too. I care about that, too. And having that empathy piece in there, I think, is so important, and that's something that I think is essential really, in this work.
Scott Jamieson: and I've lost my train of thought where I want to go next. This is why we're not live.
Scott Jamieson: What's next for the Aisb change makers.
Scott Jamieson: You guys are in grade 9 and 10. So there's time left in your school community.
Scott Jamieson: What aspirations do you have personally coming out of the conference. Think about the next steps for all of you on your changemaker journey.
Alex (he/him): I, personally have started working with Mr. V. I told him that I really wanna make a difference in like on a really large scale. In the melting of polar ice caps. And so I'm sort of going through sort of mentorship with him. He's teaching me even more tools and helping me figure out my next steps.
Alex (he/him): And he's I'm moving this year, but he's offered to continue being my mentor for as long as I need, and I think that my next steps is to take this out of the advocacy area and bring it into the
Alex (he/him): action area.
Alex (he/him): for me, at least being part of the podcasting group and one of the and and the future of the club as well with the members, because our club was a lot of seniors who are leaving this year, so there'll be a lot of space left.
Alex (he/him): One of the steps. i, 1 of the 2 steps I want to take is firstly advertise this club to the school, because there's I'm 100. Sure there's there's all the people in our school have potential to join our club, and you know, be change makers and show their ideas and show their voices. So I want to advocate for the club and get people to join the club. So we can implement ideas.
Alex (he/him): And secondly, from a podcasting perspective.
Alex (he/him): with Shiel, I want to start interviewing or creating podcasts with different members from our school because there's so many people with inspiring stories, stories and voices that need to be heard and shown.
Alex (he/him): Yeah, for me. 1st off is working with Rania, on the podcast and second, is this initiative. Because as an athlete my sport is Badminton and I recently started this middle School Badminton Club because I think that the athletics system at at schools. They
Alex (he/him): they aren't. They aren't where I think they could be. And I'm looking for ways to improve it, or
Alex (he/him): elevates the the playing field.
Alex (he/him): And so I'm using my expertise as a badminton athlete to sort of bring this positive change, because I think there's also a lot of interest for sports that aren't mainstream, such as basketball or
Alex (he/him): football.
Alex (he/him): And also I think I've inspired the athletics director because he's for the 1st time. I think he's planning to create a Badminton traveling team. So that's very cool.
Scott Jamieson: All of that sounds very cool. And I'm feeling really inspired listening to all of you and thinking about these next steps, and whether it's community storytelling or working on climate change, thinking about our polar regions and how they're being impacted or looking to inspire athletes in our own school community. I think these all sound like really amazing initiatives. And I'm really excited to see where they lead.
Scott Jamieson: You guys mentioned a lot about collaboration. And this really was kind of a big team effort. Is there anyone you'd like to give a shout out to before we wrap up our conversation.
Alex (he/him): I would, firstly, and most importantly, want to give a shout out to Mr. Verwe, whom I think we all can speak, for as he's been our main mentor for this conference, the main person guiding this conference. And it would be nothing without him. The club would be nothing without him, and I think just as a person he's such an inspiring person, even if you take him out of the context of the club and just speaking to him, and how passionate he seems about change making it really like
Alex (he/him): sparks you to be a better person, and I definitely want to give a shout out to him. And secondly, I want to give a shout out to my podcast, friend Damien, who's a senior because, being a new to this club, and being kind of like a floater around, it, took me a while to find a place in the club, and Damien very kindly invited me into the podcasting
Alex (he/him): group and allowed me to see my voice. And it was a really nice environment with him. So he's definitely someone, I want to shout out.
Alex (he/him): I think. Yeah. As Rania mentioned Mr. Berry. And also, I think, one of our seniors, Michigan. He has done really a lot of work, not only in change makers, but also in other clubs as such as Mun and Stuco. So he's really taken on a lot of initiatives and really sort of mentored other high schoolers, such as the freshmen and other less experienced students. So
Alex (he/him): shout out to him, Yeah, yeah, I mean, shout out to Mr. V. And Mission and Gemma and Laura, like all of these leaders. But I also want to give a really big shout out to everyone who attended the Conference. Everyone who is listening to this, Podcast who is taking time out of their out of their day, or their week, or even their year or life to
Alex (he/him): to do something, because, like the world, is in a position where so many things need to change, and being able to be aware of that, and to go up and make that change. I think those are really the people that we need to shout out to that everyone who the simple act of going to the conference or of listening to this podcast shows that
Alex (he/him): you're a person who cares. And I think there there's so many of those people that we don't realize. But there's also often not enough so massive shout out to everyone who does care and like, continue to care, continue to change and believe in yourself and become a change maker.
Alex (he/him): I also want to give a shout out to the people, such as the chefs or the maintenance cleaners in our school who really are like the behind the scenes, making the conference happen, making sure everything is ready for people when they're in the room. And I think that the recognition for them sometimes goes under the radar, but they really are like their heroes.
Scott Jamieson: Beautifully said, I love it.
Scott Jamieson: A really special moment for me at the conference was at the very end, and we're all kind of packing up. And we've had such a great experience over those 3 days, and we're pulling out of Aisb for the last time and seeing all of you guys out there outside with Mr. V kind of waving us out in the buses. I think it was just amazing just the looks in your faces, just realizing that
Scott Jamieson: all this work has just kind of come to fruition, and you did it. And it was such a really cool moment for me as we're kind of going out and getting a chance to wave, just seeing the joy on the faces. And just it was so amazing.
Scott Jamieson: And there was a lot of amazing moments. But that was something that was really special to me. And I just wanted to give a shout out to all of you guys, the organizers of this conference for really doing an amazing job, creating a really cool space for some great ideas to take shape. And I really appreciate the 3 of you for taking some time today to be some to be just fabulous guests on our empathy to impact podcast
Scott Jamieson: I'm really excited, to continue to be in touch and continue to see how your work evolves over the next little while. So thank you so much for joining us on the podcast and I'm feeling so inspired. Thank you.
Alex (he/him): Thank you so much. Thank you.
Scott Jamieson: And we got it. You guys were awesome.
Alex (he/him): Yeah, it was really fun.