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!

Just read this interesting article, in the September 2010 issue of the Harvard Business Review called “Be a Better Manager: Live Abroad”.   New research demonstrates how people who live abroad have greater problem-solving and creative skills and therefore make better entrepreneurs and managers.  In Europe, where the concept of the “Gap Year” (spending a year abroad between high school and college) has long been encouraged, I’ve been told that most employers already hold this belief about the benefits of hiring folks who have lived abroad.

In the USA, attitudes are slowly changing, but the cultural context here does not especially value time abroad.  We, at OneWorld Now!, are strongly advocating on behalf of institutionalizing the “Gap Year” concept for young Americans.  In our country, where less than 1% of high school students and 1% of college students study abroad, we have a long ways to go towards building this Gap Year movement.   Furthermore, the majority of these youth who do study abroad are Caucasian and come from privileged families.   We at OWN are committed to making these study abroad experiences accessible to all students, as we are doing now!

 

 

We at OneWorld Now! are very excited to have launched our new      website, which does a better job capturing the innovative nature of our social venture.   So check out OneWorld Now! and let us know what you think!

The new site includes more photos, videos, blogs and student stories.  In addition, it does a great job of explaining how OneWorld Now! is unique through our innovative and integrated program model of language, leadership and study abroad for underserved youth!

You can also sign up for our newsletter and support our Gap Year movement in America!

OneWorld Now! just kicked off it’s 9th year of programming in Seattle this month!  Students from 8 Seattle high schools are involved -  learning Arabic, Chinese, leadership skills and having the opportunity to study abroad in the Middle East and China!

Where to begin…

Well, September is always a busy month for OneWorld Now!, as we’re recruiting for our new program throughout Seattle public schools before our October beginning!

Before I say more, we were pleased to see OneWorld Now! featured prominently in the International Educator, NAFSA magazine’s cover story, “Opening Young Eyes.”   We especially appreciated that they used so many beautiful photos of our youth throughout the article!

We have some big news coming down the pipeline, to be announced next month, on our first OneWorld Now! expansion city!  We’ll keep this a surprise for now, but think SUNSHINE (that’s your hint) vs. RAIN (oh, so Seattle).

More details soon.  Right now, it’s recruitment, recruitment, recruitment…where every room in our office (including the storage room) is bursting with students and being used for student interviews (we’ve found it’s important to lay out expectations and interview potential students – so they realize what a SIGNIFICANT commitment they are about to make by joining OneWorld Now!)…

OneWorld Now! is finishing up an exciting 3-week summer immersion camp in Chinese and Arabic for high school students in the Seattle area. Having studied Russian language myself at Middlebury’s Immersion Summer Camp years ago, I know first-hand the value of a total immersion experience. It’s the best way to learn a language (other than traveling to the country where the language is spoken daily). This year, we also have developed a website just for the camp, complete with videos, photos, etc. from the 3-week camp at Seattle University.

There are a lot of great opportunities nationwide to learn critical languages in an immersion environment for all ages.   For younger students, you can go into the woods in Minnesota (Concordia Language Village) to have a great experience.  Otherwise, Startalk summer programs are sprouting up all over the nation.  We sent three of our OneWorld Now! students to Hawaii this summer to learn Chinese in an immersion camp there.   Otherwise, the Middlebury-Monterey Summer Language camps are still probably one of the very the best!

Ali and Jackie, OneWorld Now! alumni from the Evergreen State College, just returned from Doha, Qatar where they were the young stars of the Doha Forum! 10th Annual Doha Forum for Democracy, Free Trade and Development ended last weekend. The world’s elite, including ex-Presidents, Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan, US Congressional Representatives, etc., gathered for this unique forum in Doha. OneWorld Now! students Jackie and Ali were the only young people that attended the conference and delivered a powerful message at the conclusion of the Doha Forum to the crowd of approximately 400 global leaders. Ali and Jackie spoke on the podium and impressed upon the importance of including more youth voices in such an important global forum! Their inspiring words left a positive impression and talk of creating a Youth Forum in Doha in the near future.

Ali and Jackie’s trip was sponsored by the government of Qatar (and support of OneWorld 2011) and they were treated like royalty, traveling first class from Seattle to Doha and staying at the Ritz Carlton hotel in Doha. Ali said, upon returning from this magical experience, that “people would dream of attending such an important global event with the world’s elite leaders…and I lived that life for three days!” “Now I’m even more inspired to give back! I left really understanding that if young people aren’t provided the education and tools to succeed, no country will be successful in the future!”

Ali and Jackie – we’re very proud of you, inspiring global leaders!

Ali and Jackie both studied Arabic and leadership through OneWorld Now! in high school and studied abroad on scholarships in Egypt and Morocco.

OneWorld Now! alumni Ali Assim and Jackie Brown will be speaking this weekend on a Youth Panel at the 10th Annual Doha Forum for Democracy, Free Trade and Development! This is an amazing opportunity for our young leaders who will be hobnobbing with the world’s elite and giving their unique perspective on globalization. Ali and Jackie studied Arabic and leadership through OneWorld Now! and studied abroad on scholarships to Morocco and Egypt when they were in high school. As college students (from the Evergreen State College), they now have another opportunity to put their global leadership skills into action! Check out the details of the conference and see who they will be meeting.

Qatar is one of the richest nation’s in the world (thanks to the abundance of oil and gas) and the government has kindly sponsored Ali and Jackie’s trip and participation in this panel.  This will certainly be a golden opportunity for these young leaders!

The Chinese-speaking Emcee’s of the Opening Ceremonies for the CI (Philmon and first-graders Delancy & Nat)

Our former student, Philmon, flew back from Swarthmore College to be the emcee at the Opening Ceremonies. He welcomed the crowd of over 300 students, school officials, journalists and visiting dignitaries in excellent Mandarin and English. He shared his journey of studying Chinese through OneWorld Now!, his year in China and his passion for mastering the language.

In partnership with Seattle Public Schools, the University of Washington, and Hanban (a Chinese nonprofit group affiliated with China’s Ministry of Education), Washington State finally hosts a Confucius Institute! There are more than 50 in the United States and these CI’s represent a significant investment by the Chinese Government. Their primary mission is to make Chinese language, culture, and teaching resources available to the world.

As OneWorld Now! has been the pioneer in teaching Chinese to Seattle Public High School students for the past 8 years, we celebrate this very significant opportunity to spread Chinese language, culture and exchanges throughout the state!

Get Global 2010 Workshops

This Saturday, April 24th, OneWorld Now! youth will be organizing a student-led global leadership conference at the University of Washington called “Get Global“.   This year there will be visiting students from around the world, keynote speakers from Philadelphia and New York City, visitors from the US State Department, as well as students from our sister school in Los Angeles!

If you’re a high school student and interested in international issues, don’t miss this opportunity!

Check out these student-led workshops:

Global Fashion Fusion
Try on clothing from different cultures, countries, and regions of the world, while learning about the clothing’s history and origin. Learn about how what we wear can create stereotypes.

Global Get Down
It is time to shake out your stress and worries and start dancing! Get to know one another through the movement of music and dances from around the world.

What Would You Do?
Through innovative simulations, you will learn what it is like to loose your land because of war, lack of money, natural disaster, etc. You will feel the hardships and pain that families have to endure while searching for a new home.

Pushing Over the “Melting Pot”
The workshop is about multicultural identity with a focus on Asian-American identity, third culture kids, and cultural dissonance. We will hear a lecture on and then enter a discussion on the definition of America as a multi-cultural nation and examine the stereotypes that America holds above the cultures its made up of.

Take Action!
People with developmental disorders in Novi Pazar don’t have its own building, but they are renting the premises. The problem is they do not know how long they will have money for rent, so they need to have their own building in order to solve this problem. We will be learning ways to help raise money for these people with developmental disabilities, and we are always there to help them.

Code: Critical Language
Ever wondered how YOU could learn interesting, unusual languages of the world and have the government pay for it? This workshop will help you break the code of what a critical languages is, why they’re important, and how you can learn them.

Is the Street a “She”?
Did you know that in Serbia, only 9 streets (out of 283) are named after female figures? The workshop will be raising awareness of gender equality situation in local communities in Serbia and the countries (communities) of other conference participants with an aim to evaluate current state of affairs with regard to gender equality both from the local as well as from the global perspective.

A Fighting Chance!
We will discuss conflicts present in communities, classes and friendship circles, and what NGOs are involved with these conflicts. We will explore strategies used to deal with conflict and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each. Emphasis will be on group discussion and sharing of experiences.

The “-Ism” Prism
In this workshop, we’ll discuss the differences and similarities that set us a part yet bring us together, based isms. Through interactive games and activities we’ll learn more about others and their origins/beliefs regarding a wide variety of topics, and explore the lens that we all look at others through.

Skills to be of Service
Have you ever wanted to use another language to volunteer? Do you feel you don’t you have the skills now? GREAT!!! In this workshop will talk about cultural shocks and conflicts that can occur when working with people from abroad. Together we will act out scenarios and come on with possible ways of dealing with cultural shocks (IN CHINESE!!!!). This will be an engaging workshop we welcome all levels of Chinese and people with or without experience volunteering (in an immigrant community).

…But Words Can Never Hurt Me?
In this workshop, we will be exploring the classic grade school saying and how our actions and words affect others. We will also explore how we identify ourselves helps decide what words we use when we decide to hurt others.

Register now!