This past week I was finally able to secure a meeting with Little Rock’s Mayor Mark Stodola.

Three dedicated environmental fanatics and myself sat down with the Mayor and his top environmental advisor, Melinda, and asked question after question about how to have a successful event in Little Rock.

After weeks of stressing because I had no clue where to begin, I started making long lists of potential aspects that could be incorporated into the march. However, this meeting was the reality check I needed. Mayor Stodola and Melinda were bubbling with their own ideas but they managed to help me consolidate all the thoughts I had into a coherent plan for this iMatter March.

In today’s society of big, big, big, I was bent on trying to plan a huge march. My meeting however, made me realize that a smaller more intimate march would be more effective in Little Rock. We decided to make creating young activists the goal of this march. Mayor Stodola, and environmental educator, and myself will be discussing the importance of environmental awareness and the passion of youth to improve our environmental sustainability.

Being a bustling high school student, it is hard to dedicate time to planning events and marches such as this. Mayor Stodola and Melinda taught me that I have to tone down my ambitions so that I can implement this plan effectively.

If you are curious about Little Rock’s iMatter March visit imattermarch.org