Global Issues Club

Wow… I seriously can’t believe the conference is about to begin in about 6 hrs. It’s been hectic lately, with all the other organizing and fundraising. But today, we get to meet other students who are dedicated to solving global issues, and try to make a difference.

I’ll try to put on pictures of the conference so people could see how we’re progressing to make a world a better place.

Basically, the conference is mostly about introducing other schools to our community and listening to inspirational people as they talk about their experiences. Then, as what we’d normally do, we go to breakout stations so that we could interact with other students in a more smaller group. Also, a great way to welcome students in the country, we’ll be taking them to a wonderful museum and have a “green-picnic” in the garden right next to museum.

Global Issues High School Students,

Lately, I have a feeling the blog isn’t going anything, andI apologize for that. I have been bust, but now that we have a big angle comingup, the Global Issues Conference, only 2 months and 28 days!

For high scholars’ most of you have by now signed up for acommittee. If not then have a look at them below and if you wish to be a partof one of these tasks, then sign up here at the blog in a comment, from there Iwill make sure it gets where it should.

Global IssuesConference: March 12^th – 14^th 2009

Sub committees and tasks

1)  Schedule and Booklet – put the official scheduletogether and create the conference booklet  (Regina and Kimann)

a.    Day 1 (Thursday afternoon)

b.    Day 2 (Full Friday)

c.     Day 3 (Saturday morning)

d.    map of school?

e.    Introduction and welcome from Ed

f.     List of participating schools and organizations

g.    Compile speaker bios (website)

h.    Include presentations and locations (from Toddand Ann)

i.      Sponsoring partners

2)  Presentations – Create the list of breakoutsessions. Organize descriptions for booklet. Liaise with schools onpresentations. (Todd and Ann)

a.    Determine availability of speakers to leadbreakouts

b.    Plan room assignments and signs on doors

c.     Plan equipment needs and max number participants

d.    How many times would they like to present?(Speakers and schools)

3)  ASD kids sign up and money – Organizeparticipants and collect money for ASD participants in the conference.  (Roseand Ann)

a.    Age limit? Size limit?  Expectations orrequirements for involvement?

b.    Money to Mike

c.     Liaise with ASD groups (Bolivia group, Nepal,Global issues, classes HS and MS etc)

4)  Students to take care of visiting schools –arrange for ASD students to be the guides and go-to info providers for otherschools. (Rose, Ann, Anki)

a.    Names and phone numbers

b.    List of expectations

c.     Meet at airport?

d.    Need to know information sheet for visitingschools

5)  Staff to take care of guests – Arrange for ASDstaff to take care of special guests (Barb)

a.    Names and phone numbers

b.    Expectations and ideas

6)  Food and research – Work with students toresearch what we should eat. Liaise with Sterling foods. (Brian and James)

a.    Meet with students to plan meals for two lunchesand two dinners

b.    General waste reduction for conference

7)  Dinner discussion groups or mixer activities –organize a mixer for Thursday night. (Sean)

a.    how will we get them to mix between schools andage groups?

8)  Opening ceremony and Closing ceremony – make allarrangements for ceremonies.  (Jimmy, Nick, Todd)

a.    Students to introduce speakers

b.    Movie for opening and closing

c.     Drama and music participants

9)   Hotel– Greening of hotel and be the liaise to Al Seef Hotel  (Lindaand Adam)

a.    What can be done to lesson our impact?

b.    Help arrange welcome at hotel

10)                  Outsideevent planning – What can be done as an off campus activity/meal for Fridayevening? A service action?  (Adam and Mike)

11)                  Nametags /packet and registration – registering schools,names, emails, arrival times  (Mark)

a.    updated lists on money, forms, hotel

b.    Mike to keep tabs on HSBC account

12)                  A-cetVideos and Hype – Plan for the return of Bisrat and Claire. How can we makeconnections with student again?  (Jimmy and Nick)

a.    Involve ES,MS and HS in visit

b.    How can we celebrate out achievements this farand finish the job?

c.     Use Movies with Bisrat, Claire, Birhan etc.

Now, if you already are part of a committee then you shouldbe getting an email by a teacher who is in that committee.  For now, as in winter break, it’s moreof a brainstorming time. You teacher will give you detail about your committee,think about it, if you have an ideas keep it in mind, then as soon as schoolstarts you should contact your teacher, or they will contact you, and mostlikely you will have a meeting, and get started with work. After you have beencontacted, we won’t be having many meeting, in the high school that is.  We will have small meetings where youcan update us, the leaders, how your work is going. But apart from that, wewon’t be having many meetings.

Another thing, if you have not given your conferenceregistration fee yet, then download the form from Nesa and please do so as soonas you get back.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I would like tothank everyone who is  a part ofthis conference, and let me tell you, I have a feeling this is going to be agreat event. Thank you. Again, I’m sorry I have been away lately but I’m tryingmy best, you will see more here on our blog, well at least I will try.

Have a great winter break!

-Leila

Global Issues High School Students,

Lately, I have a feeling the blog isn’t going anything, and I apologize for that. I have been bust, but now that we have a big angle coming up, the Global Issues Conference, only 2 months and 28 days!

For high scholars’ most of you have by now signed up for a committee. If not then have a look at them below and if you wish to be a part of one of these tasks, then sign up here at the blog in a comment, from there I will make sure it gets where it should.

Global Issues Conference: March 12^th – 14^th 2009

Sub committees and tasks

1)   Schedule and Booklet – put the official schedule together and create the conference booklet  (Regina and Kimann)

a.     Day 1  (Thursday afternoon)

b.     Day 2 (Full Friday)

c.      Day 3 (Saturday morning)

d.     map of school?

e.     Introduction and welcome from Ed

f.      List of participating schools and organizations

g.     Compile speaker bios (website)

h.     Include presentations and locations (from Todd and Ann)

i.       Sponsoring partners

2)   Presentations – Create the list of breakout sessions. Organize descriptions for booklet. Liaise with schools on presentations. (Todd and Ann)

a.     Determine availability of speakers to lead breakouts

b.     Plan room assignments and signs on doors

c.      Plan equipment needs and max number participants

d.     How many times would they like to present? (Speakers and schools)

3)   ASD kids sign up and money – Organize participants and collect money for ASD participants in the conference.  (Rose and Ann)

a.     Age limit?  Size limit?  Expectations or requirements for involvement?

b.     Money to Mike

c.      Liaise with ASD groups (Bolivia group, Nepal, Global issues, classes HS and MS etc)

4)   Students to take care of visiting schools – arrange for ASD students to be the guides and go-to info providers for other schools. (Rose, Ann, Anki)

a.     Names and phone numbers

b.     List of expectations

c.      Meet at airport?

d.     Need to know information sheet for visiting schools

5)   Staff to take care of guests – Arrange for ASD staff to take care of special guests (Barb)

a.     Names and phone numbers

b.     Expectations and ideas

6)   Food and research – Work with students to research what we should eat. Liaise with Sterling foods. (Brian and James)

a.     Meet with students to plan meals for two lunches and two dinners

b.     General waste reduction for conference

7)   Dinner discussion groups or mixer activities – organize a mixer for Thursday night. (Sean)

a.     how will we get them to mix between schools and age groups?

8)   Opening ceremony and Closing ceremony – make all arrangements for ceremonies.  (Jimmy, Nick, Todd)

a.     Students to introduce speakers

b.     Movie for opening and closing

c.      Drama and music participants

9)    Hotel – Greening of hotel and be the liaise to Al Seef Hotel  (Linda and Adam)

a.     What can be done to lesson our impact?

b.     Help arrange welcome at hotel

10)                   Outside event planning – What can be done as an off campus activity/meal for Friday evening? A service action?  (Adam and Mike)

11)                   Nametags /packet and registration – registering schools, names, emails, arrival times  (Mark)

a.     updated lists on money, forms, hotel

b.     Mike to keep tabs on HSBC account

12)                   A-cet Videos and Hype – Plan for the return of Bisrat and Claire. How can we make connections with student again?  (Jimmy and Nick)

a.     Involve ES,MS and HS in visit

b.     How can we celebrate out achievements this far and finish the job?

c.      Use Movies with Bisrat, Claire, Birhan etc.

Now, if you already are part of a committee then you should be getting an email by a teacher who is in that committee.  For now, as in winter break, it’s more of a brainstorming time. You teacher will give you detail about your committee, think about it, if you have an ideas keep it in mind, then as soon as school starts you should contact your teacher, or they will contact you, and most likely you will have a meeting, and get started with work. After you have been contacted, we won’t be having many meeting, in the high school that is.  We will have small meetings where you can update us, the leaders, how your work is going. But apart from that, we won’t be having many meetings.

Another thing, if you have not given your conference registration fee yet, then download the form from Nesa and please do so as soon as you get back.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I would like to thank everyone who is  a part of this conference, and let me tell you, I have a feeling this is going to be a great event. Thank you. Again, I’m sorry I have been away lately but I’m trying my best, you will see more here on our blog, well at least I will try.

Have a great winter break!

-Leila

Welcome… (as Leila said) to the Global Issues Blog. Over the summer, this blog has been taking its own “vacation”. The summer was a break from school, jobs and any other sort of work. But now….. the summer is over, and me and Leila are ready to get back on board.

Alot of our posts were written by either me or Leila. So… how would you like to get the chance to write your own post on the blog?? You can write about anything. Some choices are.. the GI club, issues in the world, inspirational people and many other topics you would like to talk about.
Well.. if you want to write a post, read the instructions below:

• Post a comment (on this post) that basically says your grade and first name ONLY. That’s the only thing you will have to comment. When you’ve included your email in one of the required fields, please make sure it’s an email address you normally check.

Those are the steps that you will have to do for now. After 1-3 days, check your email for any news. You don’t have to send in a post, this is your choice. If you have any questions (because I’m sure this process can be confusing), post up the question on this post.

Welcome back everyone, or just plain welcome,

This year, me being in high school and Nabila in Middle, will give us good coverage of what is going on in at both places. So from now, whenever I post about updates, it will be, mostly, for high school. 

Bearing that in mind, I’m excited to see how many people will attend the meeting on Wednesday the 3rd. We only have an hour to give a lot of information regarding the club. This is year is going to be busy as we as a school don’t have much time to prepare for the coming conference.  Though it is in March, which will come fast, we as a school need to get a lot of work done. 

Hope we all have a great year as we 

“BE THE CHANGE!”

- Leila

Me and Leila are working side by side on this post. She has written a post about next year’s events and conferences. As you know, we are really really excited of all of the them (especially the third one..). Well.. she asked me to add the video that has to do alot of the topic we are talking about right now. I’ve looked at it and I found it really interesting.
This video is named “Facing the Future”. It has to do with a school and a new curriculum that is about the Global Issues today and how to be a change in this world. Hmmm… doesn’t that sound exactly like a class we know at our school?? Teachers in the Middle and High School have started this program to let their students be more aware of the issues that are going around in our world.

Here is the video. You’ll find it very interesting and similar to our school in many ways… 

I think it was yesterday that Mr.J sent this email to over 100 people. All to people in the global Issues network. More details will come later as we get closer to these dates. Here is the email.

Greetings from ASD EduCare in Doha,

It’s time to mark your calendars for next year! Three events in the 2008/2009 school year that will move us all towards education for a sustainable future.

1) Fall Leadership Conference 

   October 23rd-26th, Amman Jordan

   EduCare Workshop

2) NESA Winter Training Institute

   January 30th-31st, Doha Qatar

   A strand dedicated to environmental and global issues in the curriculum – EduCare!

   Registration soon on the NESA website 

   Special guest facilitator Dave Wilton from“ Facing the Future”  

   Learn about them, view the video 

 3) EduCare Symposium / Global Issues Conference

                       “Be The Change”

                        March 12th-14th

   For teachers (all levels) and students (8-12)

    Each school will be limited to 12 students

    Limited number of spaces for students

    Spaces will be held by payment and registration form

    Inspirational guest speakers, student lead workshops, action plan writing and more

    Website coming in August 2008

”Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

Have a wonderful summer break!

EduCare Doha

I guess we at ASD are more excited about the third event. Let’s talk about it.

- Leila

After reading Nabila’s “We need to wake up”, I decided to post this article.

A FIRE swept through a Doha labor camp SUNDAY April 27, 2008 –sending all valuables and belonging to 600 workers up in smoke.

The blaze started at 1:30pm, while the camp was all but empty at such time with exception of a security guard and a couple of other men.There were no losses that were reported but as the broad smoke overflowed the sky over Ain Khalid, lots of workers raced back to the camp to discover all their possessions shattered.The camp, belonging to Power Cleaning Services and the HBK Engineering, mostly consisted of brief cabins that quickly became engulfed in the fire. Strong winds made it hard to bring the blaze under control. According to the shocked laborers, who could only stand by as their things burned, a number of men lost money in the fire. One man claimed to have lost 2,600 QR. “I came home about 3pm and tried to go inside as I have money and personal belongings inside, but it was too dangerous,” said one laborer who works as a painter. “I have never seen such a fire in my five years here in Qatar.”Another worker said: “The camp is home to hundreds of people. Now they have lost everything; all their personal belongings, their clothes, and even their money. Everybody is in a state of shock.”An eyewitness said: “As the fire broke out during the day no-one was hurt as all laborers were away working. I dread to think what might have happened if this fire had broken out at night.”If only people could see what happened that day, could you imagine all those months hard work for money, food and clothing now destroyed!Though there is still hope, as ASD students from both Global Issues club and class are aiming to fulfill help for them as a goal. You can be that help by sending donations that include money, food and clothing to Global Issues club or on boxes of donations set in the middle school main lobby at ASD. Remember this people had lost their living conditions to build us a better one, it is time to make a change on theirs now step by step.  What can we do to help? - Leila   

Even though Leila has posted up some great articles on the blog… I feel that we still lack posts that are done by other members. We were more active and “blogging” some time ago. I feel that it should happen again. I feel that this blog could really go all-the-way if we all work together.

Here are some ideas of posts:

• If you are in the Global Issues elective class with Mr. J, write about the recent “Labor Camp Blaze” and what our school did to help.
• Some fundraises for ACET that we could probably do before the end of the school year
• Even though it was a couple of weeks ago… write about how you celebrated Earth Day

These are all just suggestions. You could think of more interesting topics that you want to write about. Just send it to either Leila’s or my email and we’ll check it and post it up. If you forgot our emails, just ask us and we’ll tell you. Or maybe we’ll just say it the next time we all meet.

We can all bring our blog back to life again…

If you attended last Thursday’s Global Issues Meeting in the middle school then my question to you is are you ready for the talent show?

If you didn’t come and have no idea what I’m talking about then I’ll explain. Mrs. Sikora, middle school’s amazing art teacher, decided that before we leave for our summer vacation, we should have one more fundraiser from the middle school. She had an idea for a talent show. We would have auditions and choose the top 10 to represent the school. Anyone from any grade is allowed to audition. We would then sell tickets for opening night and also have a concession stand to make more money. All the money would go to A-Cet to help build the school in Ethiopia. 

Now that everyone knows what the plan is my question is we only have 1 month of school left. Is it possible to have all this done? We have to arrange, advertise, audition and then put on the show!!!

I have heard that some students and Mrs. Sikora are going to prepose the idea to Mr. Ladd. Once approved we are going to immediately advertise. We have to make sure we peek interest so we have people to are willing to participate.

So, the key to success here is time management. So I’m asking two questions here

•  Is this possible with the short period of time?

• And if yes, how?

- Leila