Grade 7 students at the Richard Ishmael Secondary School (RISS) have been connected to peers in three other countries – Pakistan, Turkey and the United States, as part of an international educational project facilitated by the University of Guyana (UG) through a partnership with the US based non-profit organisation, One World Youth Project (OWYP).
OWYP partners with universities and engages university students as global leaders to build mutual respect and understanding among youth to positively impact their local communities. The objective is to provide youth with the global life skills needed for success in the 21st century.
A release from the project said that twelve participating UG students were trained for a semester, through OWYP, to facilitate a global competence curriculum in a pilot local city school – RISS, linking the Grade 7 students with classrooms abroad via technology and social media.
The trained university student facilitators connected their students with those of three other countries (Pakistan, Turkey and the United States) participating in OWYP, over the course of 18 weeks, in cross-cultural dialogue. Every week, 5 classrooms around the world have connected with their partner classrooms through video, pictures and written text. Together they examined points of cultural similarity and differences, built skills for cross-cultural communication and collaborated in discussing global challenges and finding solutions.
The release said that for the past year the UG volunteer students’ team was managed by student leaders Ryan Hoppie and Onika Stellingburg who were awarded Project Manager Fellowships by OWYP, attending a leadership training conference in Kosovo last year. They worked along with Daniella King, UG’s Assistant Registrar Students’ Welfare Division, to lead the work in Guyana. For the upcoming year they will pass their leadership positions to two other student volunteers – Persia Martindale and Jessica Surrey.
