Aiming for the SDGs: How archery propelled Tobago teen to lead change

When Anthurium Lewis first picked up a bow and arrow at six years old, she wasn't aiming for a future as an archery champion.

"At first it was something mostly recreational. I never really believed I would have reached the point where I could become a six-time national archery champion," she said. But today, that's exactly what Lewis has achieved, and it's only one chapter in her story that branches off into environmental stewardship, youth mentorship and child rights advocacy.

Born in Tobago, one of the two Caribbean islands that form the Small Island Developing State of Trinidad and Tobago, Lewis credits archery with teaching her the discipline and drive to balance her personal ambitions with a life of advocacy, while excelling at both.

She traces it all back to the range. "Archery gives you that staying power, that discipline to keep pushing forward."

Now 17, Lewis wants to use her platform as a United Nations Young Leader for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to share this message with the world: young people can lead change when the world makes space for their voices and equips them with the right skills. Sport, she believes, is one of the most powerful ways to develop these skills.

The 2026 theme of the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace, "Sport: Building Bridges, Breaking Barriers", observed 6 April, resonates deeply with her mission.

Under One Arc

Over the past decade, Lewis has seen archery's popularity on the island shoot upwards since she started. She attributes this to the way the sport brings together people from diverse backgrounds in Tobago.

"Since there is one club, persons from the countryside, from the town of different ages, different religions as well, they all come together and they do one sport in one area and one location. So I think that is very powerful," she said.

Lewis is proud of the role she has played in this transformation, which she credits in part to a school outreach programme she supports alongside her club mates from Tobago Precision Archery Club. Together, they visit schools to teach children about archery and give them an opportunity to try it out firsthand.

Having coached archers as young as three years old, she's found her youth to be an asset rather than a barrier in this space, explaining that younger students are more receptive to guidance from someone they view as a peer who can connect with their lived experiences.

"I've had parents come to me and say, 'Since my child started archery, they've been more focused in school, their grades have improved, and they're just more disciplined overall.' Knowing that I'm playing a part in that development is what keeps me going."

The confidence and skills that she has acquired as a coach are what she carries into advocacy and diplomacy spaces, where youth, especially girls, must often fight to have their voices heard.

Expanding the Range

On the range, Lewis has coached archers twice, even three times her age, and she has never had to prove her expertise or authority to lead. In the advocacy space, however, her experience has not always been the same.

"The biggest challenge has to be my age," she said, highlighting a cultural norm ingrained into the minds of many young Caribbean people to, "speak only when you're spoken to" and to "leave the older heads to have the big discussions."

Despite having served as Junior Minister of Tourism for Tobago and authored research on how cultural beliefs shape teachers' responses to autistic students, Lewis still confronts this issue and leans into the self-confidence she has nurtured as a competitive athlete to keep pushing forward.

But she wondered aloud: how much harder might the experience be for other young people with equally powerful ideas but no titles or accolades behind their name to open doors?

For Lewis, the answer is to keep showing up and proving the doubters wrong.

"Children can do it. We have a say. We have the intellect. We have the passion behind it as well. You don't have to wait until you're 25 to want to fight for a cause... We can start right now."

Hitting the Target

Through her foundation, Fruits for Tomorrow, Lewis is on a mission to plant native fruit trees across Tobago. She visits schools, communities and faith-based organisations, where she works with youth to plant fruit trees such as sapodilla, soursop, custard apple, breadfruit and five finger. One of her goals is to boost the island's food security by empowering young people to grow food and care for nature.

"You won't just find me planting," she said. "You'll actually find youths, very young children as well, going out there and planting their own fruit trees that they themselves will look after."

The impact was not always immediate, but it was lasting. On a first visit to a countryside primary school in Tobago, Lewis arrived to find the school's gardening area overgrown and abandoned. Two months later, she returned to find it transformed: cleared, active and full of children tending to their plants freely during the school day. "I was quite pleased by that change in sight," she said.

She has seen children develop a new reason to show up to school, thanks to the programme. They understood they needed to go to school to water their trees and watch them grow, reasoning that if they stayed home, their plants might not survive.

Beyond attendance, the initiative gives children a chance to step outside the noise of the classroom, connect with their peers and build something together with their own hands. For Lewis, that sense of ownership that fosters discipline and self-confidence, just like archery, is the whole point.

Sport has the power to change lives. In big ways, it can be a great equaliser, creating opportunities for those who are not academically inclined or who may face barriers to accessing a quality education.

But for Lewis, the most profound transformation sport brings is quieter than a trophy or a title. It begins in the mind. She maintains that archery is 80% mental, and the self-confidence and discipline it builds in a young person carries far beyond the sport.

It is a lesson she has lived, and one she is determined to pass on, emphasising, "if you're not doing a sport, you're missing out."