Following the celebration of Earth Week on campus, the Phillips Academy Sustainability Coalition (PASC) hosted its fifth annual Youth Climate Summit this past Sunday. The event featured workshops and a keynote by Boston-based documentary filmmaker and wildlife photographer Anna Miller, followed by a walk in the Cochran Bird Sanctuary and a discussion about the future of PASC’s initiatives.
This year’s summit centered on biodiversity and its preservation. Matt Robinson ’27, Co-Coordinator of PASC alongside Lisa de Boer ’26 and an organizer of the summit, elaborated on its objectives.
“Although biodiversity and climate change are often perceived as different issues, they are really one in the same [and] very interconnected, and thinking of them as the same things is a benefit to both. I hope that more Andover students, when they’re thinking about sustainability, [they are also] thinking about both the warming climate and the species it affects,” said Robinson.
De Boer spoke about the process of inviting Miller to be the summit’s keynote speaker.
“Matt actually saw her documentary… a few years ago and so he was the one that reached out to her initially and was like “Hey, do you want to come to this event?” She was really nice and enthusiastic about it, and she said yes to coming. We were very glad, because in past years we would maybe reach out to 4 [or] even 5 speakers before one would say yes… With climate messaging, people always hear all these negative stories and become desensitized to participating. It’s really nice that she had that positive hopeful message in there as well as a little bit of humor,” said de Boer.
During the keynote, Miller discussed the filming process for her documentary, “The Snowy Owls of Logan Airport,” which won the 2025 Audience Choice Award at the American Conservation Film Festival. Sylvia Su ’29, an attendee, expressed appreciation for Miller’s insights.
“She talked a lot about her general experience filming… which I thought was really cool because as someone who also is interested in nature photography and videography, it’s just very interesting to get a professional opinion on how this process works and how the trials and tribulations happen. Not only people who had the specific interests of photography or just specifically snowy owls, I feel like it applied to a greater audience and a greater moral,” said Su.
Miller also shared her photography, which documents a range of animals and habitats across Massachusetts. Nina Capaldi ’27, a member of PASC, resonated with Miller’s point on the importance of finding and preserving biodiversity within local surroundings.
“She emphasized the fact that nature is in our backyards, so we don’t need to go to the Serengeti or we don’t need to travel to a different continent to find these amazing animals and to understand the impacts of climate change on nature. We can go outside, we can see fireflies in our backyard, we can take pictures of wild geese and ducks in our ponds, and we can directly see the impacts of pollution and warming climate on these animals. It’s really important to understand that our backyards are as diverse as the world is around us, and it’s really important to keep these habitats healthy,” said Capaldi.
Nathan Ramani ’27, another attendee and a member of the PASC, encouraged students to attend climate-related programming to broaden their understanding of sustainability.
“You get to zoom out and really think about your impact on the world. That was a moving aspect of the climate summit and general climate activism for me… Sustainability is especially important because our entire planet is at stake here, and we want to make sure that people have the opportunity to learn more about it, learn what they can do. PASC has the resources, so [the summit] is really a great opportunity to just dive and learn more about [them],” said Ramani.
