The Wave We Created: Reflections on the 2024 FBYC
January 13, 2025

By Sophie Kim, 2024 Future Blue Youth Council member

Hi! My name is Sophie Kim, and I had the pleasure of serving on the Future Blue Youth Council in 2024. When I mention I’m on the Council, my friends and family members usually have questions about the experience, what it looks like on a day-to-day basis, how I think I got in, etc. Here, I thought I’d answer a few of those questions since if you’re reading this, you might be interested in applying yourself!

First, let me briefly introduce what the Future Blue Youth Council is.

1. What is the Future Blue Youth Council (FBYC), and what are members responsible for during their term?

The FBYC is a group of young people (usually ~14) that serves as an advisory body to Bow Seat, helping inform its decisions on the Contest, alumni surveys, Fellowship projects, and more. One of our main projects throughout the year is mentoring Fellowship projects! This year, I had the pleasure of mentoring two projects. The first is Mazingira School Drive, an incredible initiative focused on restoring former gold mining sites in Kenya through cleanups, tree-plantings, and performing arts performances to raise awareness. The project was led by Purity, who is joining the FBYC in 2025! The second is Mycoknot, led by Paloma, an amazing student at Yale who found ways to convert invasive Japanese knotweed into building materials and constructed a dome in New Haven. I loved meeting with mentees and making timelines, social media posts, flyers, and more for their projects!

In addition to mentoring projects and the meetings associated with them, FBYCs meet monthly with each other and Bow Seat staff to discuss progress on projects, items related to the Bow Seat organization at large, provide input on Bow Seat activities, etc. In those meetings, we also have the opportunity to get to know each other with fun team-building activities like Family Feud!

At each monthly meeting, a “Guardian” presents something that inspires hope for the future. This could be anything from art related to climate activism to a video on how indigenous communities are safeguarding the natural environment to a presentation about a sustainable company.

A lot of the tasks associated with being a part of the FBYC are voluntary – you sign up for it if you want! For example, I know of members who made multiple social media posts for the FBYC Instagram, and I know of members who didn’t do anything for social media at all. I also know that not everyone signed up to be a Guardian. In this way, you have a lot of freedom to choose where you want to devote your time and energy, and you can ensure that what you’re working on is what you want to be working on. It’s lovely!

2. What makes the FBYC different from other youth councils related to environmental organizations?

I think the most obvious aspect that sets the FBYC apart is the way Bow Seat brings together a love for the humanities and environmentalism. This approach is decidedly different from any other major environmental organizations I know of and it’s reflected in the FBYC; we’re all passionate about the environment and love to express ourselves artistically.

The extent to which Bow Seat emphasizes the FBYC community is also really unique. The members of the FBYC are always international, and in 2024, some of my fellow FBYCers hailed from Ghana, Dominica, Peru, Nigeria, Australia, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Canada, and more. Because of this, all of our meetings take place online, but the way we became a close, tight-knit group despite the online barrier is incredible. It’s all because of how Bow Seat runs things! I’m close friends with many of my fellow FBYC members, and I’m so happy to have had the chance to meet them. <3 One member of the FBYC even offered to be my language buddy!

And last but certainly not least, the staff. Oh my goodness, the staff of Bow Seat who are in charge of the FBYC are some of the most amazingly kind people you will ever meet. I am so grateful to them for everything! Thank you, Susan, Jeremy, and Linda!!! You guys are the best! I’m going to miss you so much :’)

3. Okay, I’m interested! How do you think you got in? Any tips for the application process?

Of course, anything I say here is purely speculation. No one knows exactly how I got in except the Bow Seat team itself, but I can give a few general pieces of advice!

First and foremost, know what Bow Seat is all about. Their mission is to bridge the humanities and climate activism, and if you align with that mission, make sure it shines through in your application and interview. Don’t apply for the FBYC if you’re not interested in art at all and have only worked in the STEM side of things. It’s great that you’ve done that, but it’s not what Bow Seat is focused on! There are plenty of other environmental organizations that would love to have you, but in this case, you’ve got to make sure the fit is there.

Second, during your interview, it’s okay to mess up! I stuttered and paused and was nervous and had to think about certain questions during my interview. I went in unscripted and trusted myself to respond authentically, and that’s what I did. I didn’t just give some canned responses about myself, and I certainly didn’t tie in my own achievements to every question. I did talk about how my passion for the environment was very personal and drew upon experiences living by the coast and witnessing an oil spill/plastic pollution firsthand. I also talked about how I’m frustrated by how the science for saving the climate is there, but the will is not, which is why I care deeply about leveraging the humanities as a way to get people to care and elicit emotional responses in ways that facts, statistics, and numbers cannot; then, I made it clear that I had already acted on this conviction with the projects I’d done and the activities I had been involved in.

The bottom line is, it’s okay to make mistakes in your interview; the main thing is to, as cliche as it sounds, be yourself. If you align with Bow Seat’s mission and you’re passionate about the humanities and climate activism, you will be just fine as long as you communicate that!

Also, a very important note: DO NOT have AI write your application. It’s easy to tell. Write with your own authentic voice, and let your personality shine through. You got this!

4. Closing remarks

Serving on the FBYC has been the honor of a lifetime. I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to be an FBYC-er of 2024, and I already know I’ll be staying in contact with my fellow members for a very long time! In fact, I hope to meet one in person next summer 🙂

I highly recommend that you apply – you won’t regret it, and it may just end up being one of the best experiences of your life!

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The Wave We Created: Reflections on the 2024 FBYC

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