Tolleson’s Social Media Campaign for GWWI

The New Global Citizens team at Tolleson Union High School is continuing to actively advocate for the Global Women’s Water Initiative (GWWI). Team leaders Aneyssa, Malak, and Ronae, have worked hard to educate their campus and community about their project. They have held many successful fundraising and educational events, including an Awareness Week, a Documentary Night, and a Poetry Night. For the remainder of the school year, the team has come up with a new, creative idea to continue to educate their peers: an Instagram campaign!

Tolleson NGC is taking advantage of social media to educate more people about their sponsored project, the Global Women’s Water Initiative. The campaign, currently underway, encourages students to learn about GWWI through sharing pictures on Instagram. In the campaign, titled with the hashtag “#wateryoudoing,” participants are to take a picture with the NGC Instagram frame provided at the team’s lunchtime table, or with something New Global Citizens related. Then, participants are to post that picture on Instagram, captioned with a fact about the Tolleson team’s project, GWWI. Only photos tagging the Tolleson NGC Instagram (@tollesonngc) and including the hashtag #wateryoudoing are eligible for the contest. The participants must also challenge a friends to make a post for the contest, and the top 3 posts, determined by the number of likes, will win! The winners will be announces on Tuesday, March 31^st, and will be awarded with awesome prizes.

This campaign is effective because it does two key things. First, it allows the team to extend their advocacy beyond their surrounding community, giving the potential to educate many more people through the power and reach of social media. Second, it not only encourages students to learn about GWWI, but it encourages them to take it upon themselves to spread information to their peers, giving every participant the agency to be a part of educating a community.

This post was written by NGC Team Mentor Kirstyn Rowen.

A Critical Issue: Gender Inequality Across the World

One of the most pressing issues of today is gender inequality. Across the world, women have far fewer economic opportunities than men, less access to education, greater health and safety risks, and significantly less political representation. This presents an immense issue that needs to be addressed. As a result of this inequality, two thirds of the world’s illiterate are women, women’s participation in the labor market falls far behind men regardless of education and skills, and one in three women worldwide will experience sexual assault in her lifetime.

Achieving gender equality is crucial to creating a better functioning world. Ideally, achieving gender equality would mean that men and women have equal power and opportunities, and are equally capable of achieving financial independence, personal development, and attaining a quality education. This goal necessitates empowering and guaranteeing basic rights for women worldwide.

Gender Inequality
                c/o http://www.hertalk.com

Across the world, countless women are incapable of reaching their full potential because of obstacles created by the prejudices of gender inequalities. This starts from the moment they are born, keeping them at a disadvantage consistently throughout their lives. Empowering women and breaking down these obstacles has a beneficial ripple effect that ultimately benefits the world as a whole. Once empowered, women and girls positively contribute to the well-being of their families, communities, countries, and so on.

The most effective way for students to combat this issue is simply advocacy and education. Raising awareness amongst peers and communities about the issue of gender equality is a great start. As citizens of the United States, we are at a great advantage that few others in the world have. We have a much wider range of resources at our disposal; thus, we have a responsibility to take advantage of our privileged standpoint to advocate for and raise awareness about pressing global issues such as gender inequalities. The inequalities experienced globally tower in size compared to those faced in the U.S., which needs to be brought to light. Advocating, educating, and motivating people to make a change is an extremely effective and easy way to work towards solving pressing global issues such as gender inequality.

This post was written by NGC Team Mentor Kirstyn Rowen.

Chiao Reflects on Education: A Pressing Global Issue

NGC Global Project, Sunshine Charity

Education is a right, like the right to have proper food or shelter. Education serves as a passport to human development and it expands opportunities and freedom for everyone. It contributes to democracy and economic growth as well as improving health and reducing poverty among the people.

Since 2000, more girls have been enrolled in school than before, measuring from primary education to tertiary education. The number of secondary students has also risen substantially, more than four times that increase in the number of primary students. A major reason for the rise in school enrollments in Africa and Asia is the abolition of school fees and the prospect of a midday meal. However, it is also clear that many challenges still remain in creating opportunities for children to receive an education. Poverty remains as the major marker of disadvantage. Other disadvantaged populations include indigenous populations, street children and migrants, the disabled and cultural minorities. There is also an issue with the inability to recruit female teachers and supporting poor families to making the schools more girl-friendly.

Literacy and the equality of education remains among the most neglected of all education goals with about 796 million adults lacking literacy skills. Two-thirds of this number are women. Millions of children are leaving school without acquiring the knowledge and skills that will help them succeed in their futures. There are currently many different measures in increasing the number of enrollment to schools, like the United Nation’s Education For All program. They are striving to increase enrollment and subsequently increase literacy rates globally. Every citizen deserves a right to education and to be able to gain the proper skills and knowledge to succeed in life.

This post was written by NGC Team Mentor Chiao May Lee.

Westwood High School + The Colorful Girls Foundation

Westwood High School Warriors in action at Homecoming! c/0 m.eastvalleytribune.com

New Global Citizens programs are designed to introduce students to a global perspective and use that knowledge to help solve the world’s greatest challenges. The students at Westwood High School, in Mesa, AZ, are very passionate about being involved in the NGC programs; they are doing what they can to help make a change in the world we live in now.

The NGC team at Westwood High chose to get involved with a great organization called the Colorful Girls Foundation, who serves as a support system for girls between the ages 11 and 17. This foundation was created to help young girls get the resources they need to succeed in the future. Westwood High has done a tremendous job at helping this foundation as they have participated in their high school’s homecoming parade and tailgating event. During this event, the students have created a parade float, flyers and brochures to create awareness among their peers.

Also, being very creative, they started an advocacy campaign in school by writing facts about NGC and the Colorful Girls Foundation on sticky notes and placing them all around their high school campus. The NGC team at Westwood High has shown great initiative to heighten awareness and they are currently very eager to plan their next fundraising event for the Colorful Girls Foundation.

This post was written by NGC Team Mentor Chiao May Lee.

Teacher to Teacher: Global Competency

Taken by Team Mentor Noemi Gonzalez

Written by Lisa Glenn, NGC’s Education Coordinator, for ANEE 

Globalization. From turning off the alarm clock made in a distant land to
communicating effectively with the person in the next office, we all interact with
the rest of the world on a daily, if not hourly basis. Unfortunately, it seems that the
US education system has not yet caught up to the needs of students in this global
context. The even more unfortunate truth is that students who do not develop global
competency are destined to lag behind their foreign counterparts in the workforce
and in academia until we take the time to evaluate our education system and include
global competency training in our curriculum.

So, what does global competency look like? Students who are globally competent
can investigate the world around them, recognize and value diverse perspectives,
communicate ideas about global issues, and take action as it is needed. Basically,
global competency is simply an extension of the already great teaching that most
educators do on a daily basis.

Teaching global competency falls in line quite seamlessly with the Common Core
State Standards (CCSS). Here in Arizona, as we begin to implement the CCSS, we
would be well served to also consider how we are teaching students to become
Global Citizens. College and career readiness certainly includes the ability to write
and read, to investigate mathematical theorems, and to apply the Scientific Method.
But our students are living in a world where they must also be able to interact
with and understand people from diverse backgrounds and countries. At ASU,
NAU, Grand Canyon, UA, and other institutions, our students will collaborate with
researchers from around the world. As professionals, our students will create
partnerships with global organizations. And, if we are so fortunate, our students will
become leaders who will interact with others on a global scale. If we do not provide
our students with the tools and skills needed to succeed in these arenas, then we
have truly failed.

We must use this critical time in the education field to seize upon the strength at the
base of the Common Core standards—that is, the Habits of Mind. The great benefit
of these standards is that they do not, in many cases, prescribe to the teacher exact
content to be taught. As a result, we as teachers can choose to teach the Habits of
Mind through the lens of global issues. We can choose to implement projects on how
to use public health information to make responsible decisions instead of simply
researching disease transmission. We can examine a systems-based approach to
armed conflict in addition to teaching Civil War history.

By embracing global competency, we open our students up to a whole new world of
engaging content. According to CommLaw Conspectus, 43% of US students say that
they think their homework is never or only sometimes meaningful. As educators, we
can link the concepts that students must grasp to developed and engaging content
that students are excited about and in so doing, support them in becoming Global
Citizens to ensure their successful tomorrow.

Reach Lisa Glenn at lisa@newglobalcitizens.org