Interview with
Elham Ashrafizadeh

Hello Ellie, thank you for joining us today! Could you start by telling us how you first heard about The Earth Prize, and what motivated you to apply to become a mentor?

It was during the third year of my bachelor's degree that I heard there was a competition for high school students. Some of the high schools in my city wanted to participate, and it was at this point that I found out about the opportunity to apply to become a mentor.

In terms of my motivations, most of my life I've been interested both in nature and teaching. The combination of these two elements could be easily found in mentoring for a competition like The Earth Prize. Since the first moment I heard about it, I was interested in hearing what young environmentalists think about sustainability issues.

How did you find the mentoring process?

It was a very nice experience. During the first phase, we could see the list of the questions sent into the portal to all mentors and tackled those related to our own knowledge. It was very flexible.

For the second phase, I was mentoring the team Environmental Saviours from Egypt. The topic they were focusing on was waste management, which was funny because my bachelor’s project also focused on a waste-related topic, and I therefore found this part of the process very interesting.

What did you enjoy most about being a mentor? How did it inspire or challenge you?

I was impressed that high school students can deeply understand environmental topics and their complexities. This was very inspiring; to see how far they can go. There is no limit to what teenagers can do. There weren’t any challenges for me, it was an enjoyable experience where we exchanged ideas about topics that we were both interested in. It was wonderful.

A unique thing about the team I closely worked with, Environmental Saviours, was that all three of them were girls. It's very inspiring for me to see a team composed of a young group of women environmentalists. I was recently reading an article that was talking about needing more space for women to contribute to high environmental science roles, and seeing a group of highly passionate young women was a delightful element for me.

Is there anything that you will be taking from The Earth Prize into your work or studies?

Definitely - the overall experience was great for me. One thing that I've taken from The Earth Prize is how impactful teenagers could be for environmental issues. It was very inspiring to see how far they can go, how interested they are, and how they can tackle complex environmental problems with a bit of guidance. Imagining where these young environmentalists might end up—whether in politics, business, engineering, or elsewhere—and seeing how they'll bring their love for the environment into those roles gets me really excited about what's to come.

What advice or tips would you share with other university students who are considering becoming a mentor in the next edition of the competition?

One of the things I would say is that mentoring is about helping students to grow. You might want to answer as many questions as you can for the sake of competition, but sometimes you have to consider whether you’re the best person to answer this question or not, and whether you have a unique input to this question. And if you don't, that's totally okay because the environmental field is a very diverse field. I really recommend focusing on your expertise and considering helping the students with your unique viewpoints. In addition, enjoy the journey of watching their growth.