The Journey

Today was a great day! In the morning I went to the Westwood Middle School in Danville. Westwood is a One World Youth Project sister-school to the Country Day School in Escazu, Costa Rica. I met the two teachers I had been corresponding with before my arrival and was introduced to several other faculty members. Around 10 am they called all the 200 or so eighth grade students into an assembly so I could speak about One World Youth Project. The assembly went well and the students asked good questions. Yet, the day was only to get even better! The Leadership Group for One World Youth Project is a group of approximately 25 eighth graders. Traci and I taught an interactive youth leadership workshop that afternoon with this group. We began by talking about what makes a youth leader and why youth leadership can be a powerful and effective tool especially when combined with follow through, showing up, and speaking out. We then worked with students to help them take their passions (which could be anything... dance, drama, basketball, science, business, etc.) and use them as a way to take positive action for a better world. This was a very interactive exercise that involved drawing and volunteers. I have done this exercise in several other schools, and I was surprised by how quickly and easily the Westwood students latched on to the concept. They came up with some very unique and creative ideas! We finished up the workshop with filming a part of Westwood's One World Youth Project documentary and working on the Project message-boards.

Sincerely,
Jessica Rimington