Calling all students! You may want to listen closely here, because we’re about to announce something pretty big. Major, in fact. Cue Jesse Eisenberg, actor, activist and all-around cool kid:
You heard it here first, folks. ONE is joining forces with Chegg, a leading social education platform for students, in a nationwide search to send eight all-star student advocates on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Africa. This unique internship program and trip will be an opportunity to become fully immersed in the issues faced by millions living on less than $1.25 a day in sub-Saharan Africa. You will get to experience the fight against extreme poverty and disease from the frontlines -– and come back fully energized to lead your peers as the next generation of advocates on campuses across the country.
Paloma Pineda and Katherine Warren, founding co-directors of the Akili Initative, an online student think tank for global health, report on the recent Consortium of Universities for Global Health.
The immense challenges of global health have increasingly inspired our younger generation to act to create change. As global health challenges grow, students’ optimistic spirit, capacity to innovate and multidisciplinary perspectives will be an invaluable resource to cultivate in the years to come.
Over the past few decades, universities have recognized this value and have made strides towards providing students with the tools they need to make an impact in global health work. Currently, more than 240 North American universities have dedicated global health coursework, and more than a third of those also include research programs. The Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) seeks to build collaboration among these institutions to ensure optimal curricula and research programs.
Please welcome Priscilla Nguyen to the ONE Blog. She is an intern for ONE’s operations team.
At the inaugural Mbele Africa Inter-College Convention at Dartmouth College, a group of 50 student leaders from across the United States gathered to network, discuss development projects and brainstorm ideas for Africa’s future.
Participants of Mbele Africa discuss pertinent issues for African development such as “Science and Technology” over breakfast. Photo credit: Michael Sugimura
It just so happened that on the weekend I chose to visit my alma mater, Dartmouth College, they were hosting the Mbele Africa Inter-College Convention, a student event focused on the role of youths in African development. As an intern at ONE, I jumped at the opportunity to see what these young African activists are doing on the ground.
According to today’s report in The New York Times, a growing movement of parents, educators and philanthropists has banded together to strengthen the education system for poor and working-class students in South Africa. As a result, new private schools like Leap are “springing up” to serve this niche market.
The Leap schools — which, according to the Times, function a bit like charter schools — have adjusted the curriculum to fit the students’ needs. The school offers extra support for national matriculation exams, instill a fierce work ethic and provide a “life orientation” class to help students air out their personal problems.
These “charter” schools are just one part of South Africa’s up-and-coming education movement — but it’s good to see that concerned citizens are taking the matter into their own hands. Take a look at the story and read more about education on our issues page.
Last week, Sen. Johnny Isakson, (R-Ga.), was on Georgia Tech’s campus for the Back-to-School Barbecue, an event hosted by the Georgia Tech Campus Republicans.
Me talking to the senator before his speech.
As a member of the campus ONE chapter, I took the opportunity to talk to the senator about our commitment to the fight against extreme poverty and disease.
I started out by thanking him for signing onto last year’s letter to President Obama, which asked for a strong foreign affairs budget.
He mentioned that he was on the Africa subcommittee and the Foreign Relations committee and understood the need for a robust foreign affairs budget.
I also took the opportunity to discuss the Global Food Security Act, and told him about the Lugar/Casey letter, which urges senators to bring the Act to the floor before the Senate year.
I requested that he sign on to that letter, because the bill would go a long way in combating poverty in African nations. Overall, the senator was very receptive, especially when we started talking about the Global Fund and its benefits.
Before leaving, I thanked him again and let him know that our Atlanta Congressional District Leaders would follow up with more information with his staff this week.
I recently caught up with some high school ONE members in northern Virginia who are fighting illiteracy in Africa through the service and awareness- raising group “Action Africa.” Below, Thomas Jefferson High School student Sydney Schrider tells us more about their incredible work.
Action Africa is a service club at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia. We are trying to increase awareness of African issues and complete service projects at our school.
One of our ongoing projects is a pen pal relationship with a school in Bupoto, Uganda. Last year, as our big spring service project, we did literacy outreach with the Arlington Academy of Hope (AAH), a school in rural Uganda. We collected easy-reader books and recorded them on tapes, and then sent the books and tapes to the students of AAH in Bupoto.
We continue to learn about different issues, such as food security and AIDS awareness, and are working with ONE on many more events.
–Sydney Shrider, Thomas Jefferson High School, Alexandria, VA
Check out this great post from Becky Guldin of North Lebanon High School.
Throughout middle and high school, my best friend Laura Whitman and I have been involved in PASC, the Pennsylvania Association of Student Councils. Each year, PA District 8 hosts a conference for student council members and their advisors to share ideas and communicate between schools. Laura Whitman and I have submitted a workshop on the topic of our choice for several years to share with other school’s student councils.
This year we chose to focus our workshop around ONE. On March 6th, we presented our workshop, “Be ONE in a Million,” to 60 students in District 8. Our workshop focused on ONE’s main priorities and growing ONE membership. The students also viewed numerous ONE videos which were all received very well. Each student received two wristbands and two stickers with the promise that they would wear one set and give the other set to a friend. Some students even won ONE t-shirts and ONE lapel pins through a raffle.
This workshop proved to be a learning experience for the presenters and the students, and was also a great experience to connect with other teenagers through tough issues like global poverty. Hopefully, Laura and I will be submitting our workshop to the PASC State Conference in November!
-Becky Guldin, Northern Lebanon High School, Fredericksburg, PA
ONE is campaigning to ensure that the Congressional budget does not cut foreign assistance programs like Feed the Future that help people break the cycle of poverty and hunger.
The Horn of Africa is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. More than 11 million people, mostly nomadic pastoralists and farmers in south-central Somalia, north-eastern Kenya, and south-eastern Ethiopia, are severely lacking access to food.
2011 marks 30 years since the first cases of AIDS were documented. Take a closer look at the specific, achievable goals we must hit by 2015 to make this year the beginning of the end of AIDS.
As aid agencies warn more than 9 million people could be affected by a food crisis in East Africa, world leaders are failing to keep their 2009 promises to tackle the causes of chronic hunger and support farmers in the world's poorest countries.
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