U of G students Brandon Raco, Kurt Schneider, Nick Fegan, Paul Wartman, Kelly Hodgins and Sarah Stefoff have been selected to join other young leaders at a national conference on sustainability.

The U of G students are among 175 college and university students chosen from more than 730 applicants across Canada to participate in IMPACT! The Co-operators Youth Program for Sustainability Leadership. The annual program involves a conference, workshops, mentoring and funding for student projects. The students are between the ages of 19 and 25 and represent 68 Canadian colleges and universities.

IMPACT! 2014 will be held at U of G May 23 to 26.

Students will come to the conference with a sustainability project aimed at helping better the community, and work with experts from academia, industry, government and civil society to bring it to fruition. Some of the community initiatives will receive grants from The Co-operators Foundation – IMPACT! Fund.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield will be the keynote speaker at the conference. He will share his perspective on state of our planet and the role young people can play in sustainability.

Launched in 2009, the IMPACT! program is a partnership among The Co-operators, The Natural Step Canada, U of G, the University of Saskatchewan Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, Wilfrid Laurier University, Lambton College, the Canadian Co-operative Association, the David Suzuki Foundation and AIESEC, an international student organization.

More information is available online at: http://www.impactyouthsustainability.ca/