A Generating Momentum conference was held in Altona for the first time ever.

Forty-six middle year students gathered at the Millennium Exhibition Centre to learn about sustainable land use around the world.

The Manitoba Council for International Cooperation (MCIC) holds Generating Momentum conferences annually across the province. The goal is to help equip youth with the tools to take positive action regarding local and global issues.

This year the 6 conference locations include The Pas, Altona, Portage La Prairie, Beausejour area, and Winnipeg.

Hanover and Border Land School Divisions were able to attend the day long conference at this location. The schools included Clearspring, Rosenfeld, Emerson, École West Park, and École Parkside.

A student working on a design for a t-shirt or reusable bag "Each year we pick a theme," said Keana Rellinger, Public Engagement Specialist for MCIC. "They learn all about sustainability and the global goals from the United Nations, and this year's theme is Interconnected Life On Land, so that's goal number 15."

The students go through skill building workshops, and in the afternoon they split into groups for a creative workshop such as photography, videography, theatre, and silk screening.

The opening activity involved a board game designed by MCIC, where students had to make financial decisions regarding the ecosystem.

"Essentially they walk through four different categories; forest management, biodiversity, animal extinction and endangerment, and fresh water ecosystems," said Rellinger. "They have a set amount of money per student where they have to decide what's more costly, what they want to do in the future, and how to create a sustainable future."

École West Park School students

Rellinger said a game like this gets students thinking about how their decisions can create change.

Grade 5/6 students from Emerson Elementary School said they learned about leadership, event planning, and public speaking.

"We learned about planning and promoting an event, and we were learning about making decisions with money and how that event would work," said Gavin, a student at Emerson Elementary.

Altona's École West Park School students were also excited to show off what they'd learned during the skills building session.

"We learned about planning and promoting, and we learned about how to make an event that can go far... and how to promote it to places like on websites," said Madison.

"We learned about how we're all interconnected," added Parker, another grade 5/6 student at École West Park School.

The annual Generating Momentum conferences are made possible through funding from Global Affairs Canada.

Grace Van Mil and Keana Rellinger are Public Engagement Specialists at Manitoba Council for International Cooperation