When she was a Year 9 student, Chenxin Tu joined Be the RE-Generation, our Baykeeper youth volunteer program. She contributed to live mollusc surveys, coastal erosion profiling, microplastic pollution audits, weed management, vegetation surveys and propagation and planting to improve penguin habitat. Chenxin often booked groups of her friends into environmental activities, and was appointed one of our inaugural Multicultural Coast Ambassadors. In this role, Chenxin created events and a language-free short film to help Melbourne’s Chinese community connect to Port Phillip Bay.
"Days volunteering with the EcoCentre were such a wonderful part of my high school experience. I've always had a passion for the environment, and the EcoCentre volunteer community has introduced a variety of perspectives into my life. Volunteering there has been such a calming environment, where I can be with others who are truly passionate about making a positive change, rather than be surrounded by a world of climate anxiety."
At school, Chenxin joined on-campus EcoCentre leadership training, ResourceSmart Schools reporting and started the Keen Green Beans garden club. She continued to volunteer at community activities, such as pest seastar removal, National Tree Day plantings and at EcoCentre’s Community Enviro Fest as a panellist, alongside stalwarts like Neil Blake and Prof. John Thwaites.
Chenxin is now studying a Bachelor of Environment and Sustainability Honours degree, with a focus on natural resource management, demography and biodiversity conservation. ‘As a first-generation Asian immigrant, studying environmental sciences is not a very typical path, but having a community who shares the same passions has inspired me. For me, success would be showing others the wonders of the environment and our interconnection with it.’ Chenxin continues to volunteer remotely, from helping translate EcoCentre resources into Chinese, to international water law research.
