Student Spotlight: Alexis Tan
My name is Alexis Tan. I joined SVYCA in 2020 as a freshman in high school with the ambition of making my community more sustainable. SVYCA has allowed me to find others with similar ambitions and put our minds together to make real actionable change. Working in SVYCA introduced me to the political world, agenda to personal connections, and taught me how to push climate policy through the chaos.
I served as a co-lead of the Santa Clara team for 3 years from 2021-2023. I learned public commenting as a member of the Transit team, advocating to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and used my knowledge to encourage and teach my peers for other initiatives I directed under Santa Clara. I often called and texted students 1 on 1 to teach them about public commenting, from the structure of city council meetings to when to raise your hand on the Zoom call. I’ve led advocacy workshops for up to 100 individuals with a focus on city Climate Action Plans (CAP), electric reach codes, and bike lane policy. Subsequent student advocacy from these workshops resulted in the passage of stricter electric reach codes and more ambitious citywide greenhouse gas targets. In addition, I successfully spearheaded a team of student advocates to petition the school board for adoption of AP Environmental Science at Santa Clara High School.
During my time at SVYCA, I earned a silver Presidential Volunteer Service Award for my contribution to SVYCA, as well as commendations from Silicon Valley Clean Energy and California State Rep. Ro Khanna.
“SVYCA makes me believe that youth have power, that when we speak politicians do listen, and that we can make true contributions against climate change through policy changes. I’ve learned that many students that are concerned about the future and when they realize they have power they take action”
My involvement with SVYCA exposed me to other students doing amazing things to save our planet. SVYCA showed me that there are other pathways to helping the environment aside from “self-sacrificing” small personal actions. It changed my worldview from the false idea that “there was nothing much I could do to protect the environment because major polluters do more harm than I could ever do good” to the idea that government legislation and youth pressure can make a real change.