Just like your average kid growing up
 I went through the multitude of dreams and
hobbies in different time periods of life.
From writing to clay art to
photography and drawing I too had my
fair share of fleeting interests but one
common characteristics that stayed:
at the end of the day,
I am a creator through and through
My name is Lena and I'm an 18 year old
digital media artist aspiring
Communications major and marine
conservation biologist.
With my creative voice, I seek to wield the influence of
media on human psychology and raise
awareness on social and environmental
justice issues for a better future.
At 16, I moved to Canada from Hong Kong to join
a group of 200 individuals from all
around the world to study at Pearson College.
One of the 18 United World Colleges around the world,
Pearson operates under the motto to make
education a force to unite people and
nations
for peace and a sustainable future
already a media artist and avid marine
lover at this point
Here I was, surrounded by the future changemakers of
the world, united under the common desire
to make the world a better place.
Here I was exposed to marine science classes
further developing my interests in
understanding the ecological system and
understanding my role as a global
citizen as I lived and learned with the
world around me I became more aware of
how crucial communication is in order to
develop understanding as we face the
looming sixth great extinction and are
surrounded by rising talks of the
climate crisis I realized the despite
the digital advancement of 21st century
we live in a world of disconnect it is
due to this disconnect that us humans
are not informed and knowledgeable about
the ecosystems that we are so deeply
interconnected with
it is disconnect that we do not truly
know how to start preserving the beauty
of the world we take for granted
I subsequently learned from my IB
extended essay research on the effect of
media campaigns on southern resident
Orca conservation the skillful portrayal
of the situation combined with powerful
emotional appeals raise public awareness
on a subject my takeaway was this that
effective media communication could be a
compelling means to motivate society at
large towards a healthy and sustainable
future today I want to make out the
world a better place by representing the
voices that are not hurt starting from
the blue to show the world what lies
beneath the ocean's surface to create a
visual impact that will touch the
heartstrings of the audience to motivate
and inspire conservation action and I
plan to do this through engaging and
environmental communication and using my
creativity to develop conservation media
creations I'm a co-founder of West Coast Narrative
I'm a co-founder of West Coast Narrative
a student-led documentary
initiative that focuses on the
interconnection between human impact
and the marine ecosystems focusing on
the sea star wasting disease and a
decline of chinook salmon numbers along
the west coast. With our team we have
been interviewing key stakeholders in the
issue including the British Columbia Premier,
local salmon hatcheries, indigenous
communities and are striving to make our
audience aware of just how much our
daily activities are costing our
environment
this is just the first step of my plan
to raise more global awareness on what
is happening around us. As I learn to
exert media influence through more
hands-on experience in the field and
pursue a communications and marine
biology degree I aim to heighten my
understanding of the persuasion
principles involved in environmental
communication and channel my creativity
into developing influential media
content tugging on heartstrings to
inspire positive lasting change at the
end of the day the world is ours this is
our time to act this is our time to save
our future and a future of generations
to come
