NEW ROCHELLE, NY — For the 2016-17 school year, Ursuline students in the Global Concern Classroom (GCC) club have been exploring the challenge of how the international community addresses the needs of people most impacted by “Complex Emergencies” throughout the world.
Global Concerns Classroom is a year-long program run by Concern Worldwide US, open to all high school students (grades 9-12) in the NYC, Chicago, and Boston metro areas. On March 3, 2017, our GCC students went to New York City to participate in the 3rd annual Youth Summit held at the Mutual of America corporate office on Park Avenue. They are pictured below with Mrs. Spiridon, Mrs. Barton and Mr. Bratt. Our 20 students collaborated in teams with high school students from eight metro-NY schools including Bronxville High School, Trevor Day School, St. Vincent Ferrer, Queens High School, and Friends Seminary.
Together, the students researched problems in countries such as South Sudan, Bangladesh, Haiti, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and the Central African Republic. They worked on project design, short-term and long-term strategies, developed $1 million budgets and delivered creative presentations including websites and social media vehicles, news reports and poetry. They were also able to consult with global field experts from Concern Worldwide.
We are so proud of our Ursuline students who displayed confident, strong voices as they presented smart, empathetic plans to two different panels of judges. We are very grateful to our continued partner, Global Concerns Classroom, for helping to educate our students on important global issues and humanitarian relief planning.