Building Tomorrow, Today: DIA Al Barsha’s Interact Eco Club Leads Innoventures’ First Student-Led Sustainability Summit

In February 2025, the Interact Eco Club at DIA Al Barsha was founded with a singular purpose – Interact for a greener tomorrow. Unlike most Interact Clubs, which serve across Rotary’s many areas of focus, this club made a bold choice: to dedicate itself solely to one, ‘Protecting the Environment’. And in just a few short months, it has lived up to that vision in ways that are both measurable and meaningful. 

On October 3rd, 2025, the Interact Eco Club hosted the Eco Summit 2025 - Innoventures Education’s first fully student-led, action-based sustainability event. Held at DIA Al Barsha and attended by students from all five Innoventures schools, the summit aimed to not focus solely on discussion, but more importantly direction. Youth are often tokenized in sustainability efforts - celebrated in speeches, yet excluded from real decision-making. This summit chose a different path: placing students not in the spotlight, but in the driver’s seat. Built around the theme “Building Tomorrow, Today – Growing for a Sustainable Future,” it offered a glimpse of what’s possible when young people are empowered to lead with purpose. 

The summit featured four simultaneous events, each designed to tackle sustainability from a different angle. At the Eco Conference, Presidents and Vice Presidents of each school’s eco clubs gathered to identify the gaps and needs within their individual school communities – focusing on biodiversity, waste, and energy and water consumption. From that discussion came one of many collective outcomes: a plan to launch an Innoventures-wide Kiswa clothing campaign, scaling up a past DIA AB initiative that had collected over 1,000 kg of clothing in just one week. 

The other tracks - Eco Pitch, Eco Showcase, and Greenworld Design - invited students to submit entrepreneurial ideas, school-wide sustainability projects, and innovative environmental design proposals. These entries are currently under review, but early glimpses have shown immense creativity and a deep understanding of environmental systems, proof that students are not just aware, but ready to act. 

The event was evaluated by an exceptional panel of eight judges, including sustainability leaders, Rotary Presidents, engineers, media professionals, and entrepreneurs – all committed to uplifting student-led impact. Their presence not only inspired participants but emphasized the real-world value of their ideas. 

Eco Summit 2025 is part of a growing legacy. The Interact Eco Club has previously spearheaded high-impact projects like its Kiswa clothing campaign, the launch of a student-made organic lip balm from school-harvested beeswax, and campus-wide waste management partnerships with Simply Bottles and Yallah Return. The club has also participated in COP28 student initiatives and continues to drive collaboration across the UAE’s youth climate community. 

At its core, the summit was about more than a day of events. It was about empowering students to own the narrative of sustainability – not someday, but now. 

“This summit was our attempt to make sustainability unignorable within our community – and it stands as a mindset, a promise, that we students will not sit on the sidelines of our future. The success of this event proves that when students take the lead, the result isn’t just inspiration. It’s measurable, scalable action. Because here at the Interact Eco Club, we don’t wait for change. We are the change.” 

Article written by: Aashna Takhtani Founding President, Interact Eco Club at DIA Al Barsha