in my O.W.N. words

A Full Summer at OWN

Kristin — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 19:58:11 +0000

Well, the summer seems to be coming to a close and Seattle just got it’s first stint of sunshine this month! It’s been a world wind of activities at OneWorld Now!, but lots of exciting stuff to reflect upon!

First of all, we launched the first Arabic language camp for high school students in Oahu, Hawaii this summer. Two weeks of Arabic immersion, with participating youth from Seattle, Los Angeles and throughout the Hawaiian Islands. It was a big success & we’re grateful to our QFI funders for their support to make it possible.

Just as the Hawaii camp finished, we organized a three week Startalk-supported summer camp in Chinese and Arabic for high school students in the Seattle area. We have some great footage from our immersion camps thanks to our new media partner Synergiesinsync!

AND, if that wasn’t enough, we sent our first group of young MIDDLE SCHOOL students to China this summer, as well as a group of OWN high school students to Beijing! Earlier in April, QFI supported us again to send a group of OWN students and staff to Doha, Qatar. And finally, thanks to our partnership with National Center for Global Engagement and Global Kids, we have a group of youth in Kenya this month on an exciting collaborative study exchange!

So things have hardly slowed down this summer, but we feel blessed to work with such inspiring young leaders whose activities and transformation is a bright spot in an otherwise shifting world….

NAFSA – Social Entreprenship in International Education

Kristin — Wed, 25 May 2011 21:15:54 +0000

I’m so excited to speak on the the plenary panel at NAFSA next week in Vancouver BC, focusing on Social Entrepreneurship in International Education! All of us who are speaking that day had transformational experiences abroad that inspired us do the work we are doing today! We hope to encourage everyone to put their dreams into action. For me, studying abroad in South Africa at age 15 left me with a passion for social justice issues and study abroad. That experience absolutely was the starting point of my journey towards the creation of OneWorld Now!. I would like to see study abroad as a part of everyone’s education in high school – I’m certain the world would be a different place, if that were the case.

OWN Featured in Hawaiian News

Kristin — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:38:26 +0000

Last week, our OneWorld Now!-Hawaii program was featured in the Star Advertiser – Hawaii’s main newspaper! We’re really proud of our students and we especially loved one of our OWN-HI student’s quotes (Codi Kelii, age 17) who said “It’s changed the views of my parents. They always thought that the Arab world was bad, and thought about terrorism and stuff. I talk about the class and it’s changing their perception.”

That’s transformation in action. When one person changes, the whole community can be changed! Powerful stuff! These youth keep inspiring our work.

Vision Workshop at OneWorld Now!-HI

Kristin — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 19:37:38 +0000

Just got back from a sunny week in Hawaii, visiting the new OneWorld Now! Hawaii program. Our pilot project is at Campbell High School. We’re the first Arabic language high school program on the Hawaiian Islands! There was a reporter out this week doing a story on us which I hope to see and post soon! I led a “VISION” workshop with the youth – encouraging them to visualize (and draw) their ideal visions for their future. I asked them to consider that ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE and to be in that head-space as they illustrated their vision on big paper. Then they were asked to share it verbally with a partner, speaking of their vision in the past tense (as if it had already occurred and everything already happened just they way they had envisioned it!).

In our debrief, there were tears of joy and the youth shared that it was really empowering (and felt very real) to describe their vision to their partner as if it already occurred! I LOVE doing this workshop with young people – it’s so exciting for me to see the spark in their eyes (as they experience that sense of possibility) – and it always re-invigorates me to consider my own vision!

Happy New Year All

Kristin — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 02:00:16 +0000

For my New Year’s resolution, I’m contemplating the question: What does it mean to be my greatest self?

This will be my year of inquiry around this question. If I knew I would always be safe & healthy, what would I do & who would be, if I were being my greatest self?

This inspires my thinking and spirit! It might just be the greatest year yet…

Qatari Youth – Vision for the Future

Kristin — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 22:42:19 +0000

Traveling to Doha, Qatar this week was an amazing experience for me. This photo is after a QFI event with myself, QFI Director Maggie Mitchell Salem and the Qatari high school students who traveled to the USA with QFI last summer. I gave a speech to the youth about leadership, creating their visions and not letting fear and our self-imposed limitations get in the way of making it happen! The youth were very responsive and positive about the talk. Of course, the Qataris are all feeling extra optimistic these days after the surprise winning-bid for the 2022 World Cup! Qatar will be the first Middle Eastern nation to host the World Cup, and this will certainly put Qatar on the world stage!

Youth Voices at the Beiruit Arab Thought Foundation Conference

Kristin — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 01:12:12 +0000

Today was the final day of the Arab Thought Foundation Conference in Beirut, Lebanon. The highlight, of course, was the few youth voices from Qatar Foundation International, who presented today. I was so proud of them – as they discussed how their exchange to the USA and Qatar had totally changed their lives, completely destroyed any stereotypes of each other and created lasting friendships! Yay study abroad, yay QFI and yay amazing students. This is really the only way our complicated world will be changed in a positive direction!

At the Arab Thought Conference in Beirut

Kristin — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 16:25:54 +0000

This week, I’m in Beirut, Lebanon at the Arab Thought Foundation Conference. The theme is Shaping the Future – Arabs’ Role? It’s been quite interesting so far. I especially appreciate these pan-Arab efforts to collaborate on problem-solving efforts for the region. In this photo I’m with one of the QFI students from Qatar – and one the only youth voices represented at this conference of over 800 leaders from around the Arab world – go figure!

Ashoka Fellows – Speaking from the Heart

Kristin — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 03:32:14 +0000

Earlier this week, while on business in Washington DC, I had the pleasure of being on a panel with two other Ashoka fellows, Molly Barker and Vishal Talreja. Usually when we Ashoka fellows gather, we are very focused on describing the work we do in the world. For some reason, this was a particularly powerful experience because we focused more on who we ARE as people vs. what we DO in the world. In American society, our focus is usually on the “doing” vs. the “being” – yet this conversation was more engaging and inspiring for all of us…

Check out the interview:

http://www.ustream.tv/flash/viewer.swf

Choose Your Vision, Every Single Day!

Kristin — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 17:01:26 +0000

I had the pleasure of giving a speech yesterday in Seattle on “Leadership”….a big topic. I chose to focus on my own life story and how that has influenced and inspired my work today, leading to and through OneWorld Now!.

As I reflected on what I might say, I realized that “leading” and “living one’s vision” is actually a conscious choice for me every day. Of course, when I’m really doing what I love, it seeps into my subconscious, but mostly, I wake up every morning and think intentionally about what I want to create that day. I check myself on what I’m creating in my relationships, knowing that it all has a ripple effect in the world at large. If I’m holding onto to some kind of resentment or misunderstanding toward someone, I intuitively feel that it is somehow connected to the larger conflicts and misunderstandings around me.

I believe that leadership starts from within. We teach our students at OneWorld Now! that personal leadership is essential to global leadership. This is something we get to choose (and it’s not always easy) every single day. Of course when the vision is bigger than ourselves, that inspires staying the course!