Just around 3 months ago, when people were starting to prepare for the celebration of Chinese New Year, 9 students from Grades 11 and 12 participated in an ocean sustainability educational program launched by Prada and UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC-UNESCO) called “Sea Beyond”. With the goal to educate and raise awareness among the new generation about adopting more responsible and mindful behavior towards the ocean, “Sea Beyond” gathered high schools from 10 cities around the world including Berlin, Mexico City, Paris, Lisbon, and so forth.

The first phase of this program took form as webinars led by Ms. Cui Mengdi which included 4 main lessons: ocean literacy, plastic in ocean, circular economy and fast fashion, as well as the development of an awareness campaign. These four seminars all had the overarching theme of sustainability which aimed to educate students from all around the world on the importance of oceans and to promote an attitude of sustainable consumption that is in line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

After these four seminars, each school was required to create an awareness campaign either as a video, graphic design, or poster. After hours of deliberation, Sea Beyond came up with the idea to design a board game called “Environopoly” which targets the issue of fast fashion and its negative consequences. Since they are targeting the young generation, a board game could be a convenient way to raise awareness as it can easily attract attention and generate hype while still being educational.

Finally, on March 26th, Prada and IOC-UNESCO announced the winning awareness campaign through a digital award ceremony. SHSID’s campaign won second place and will be disseminated on both Prada and UNESCO’s social channels.

After the students completed the Sea Beyond project, they now realize how the ocean is something that we greatly rely on for survival and gained a more holistic understanding of our environment. With a new perspective to view the ocean, the team members aim to educate the new generation on sustainable development with their board game that focuses on how fast fashion depletes ocean resources.

（Written by Anita Lo Picture by Prada Supervised by Mengdi Cui）