Large maps lie strewn across an oval, wooden table big enough to seat the 16 eighth-graders clamoring around it. As they discuss global issues — conflict, hunger, economics — the students tape small paper squares to the maps. Each square is stamped with symbols representing region-specific resources, such as a building with a dollar sign to denote economic institutions.
The students are in the preliminary stages of the World Affairs Challenge, a statewide, competition-based program geared toward instilling global awareness in youths and teaching them how to engage in social issues through action.
This year’s World Affairs Challenge theme is Smart Planet, a topic open to interpretation by participants. Over the next several months, students across Colorado will focus on a specific region of the world and a problem faced by its people. They’ll work together to create a solution to that problem, and in March, the students will present their work to a panel of judges. Afterward, all teams take action to solve their specific problem, with the competition’s winners receiving monetary support to help implement their plan.
This year’s competition has attracted a large team at Evergreen Country Day, a private school at 1036 El Rancho Road in Evergreen. Teacher and first-time World Affairs Challenge team leader Victoria Hutchen said students are currently only “ankles deep” in the process. They’ve decided to focus on how industry — including sustainability, decent work and economic growth — relates to a “smart planet.” A far-ranging discussion and the paper cutouts taped to maps are steps toward narrowing that focus to a specific industry and locale.
“We need to be able to say, ‘Hey, by looking at all these places and looking at all these parts of the economies throughout the world, here’s where we feel like we can help, and how,’” Hutchen said.
Right now, the students are thinking big. Rayleigh Reser, 14, wants the group to focus its efforts on creating sustainable jobs or a solution to pollution.
“I think there’s a lot of things, that if we all worked together, we could help change,” Rayleigh said. “All of the problems in the world relate to each other. So, if we can start working on one, everything else will fall into place.”
World Affairs Challenge program director Hope Mukai said some previous teams have tackled big ideas like Rayleigh’s. One team helped save more than 500 acres of Ecuadorian cloud forest from copper mining. Another team helped open a food bank in a small town where resources for disadvantaged residents were scarce. World Affairs Challenge teams often impact a community long after the competition is over, she said.
To pinpoint a topic, the team at Evergreen Country Day is studying challenges small business owners face — everything from production and distribution to employment. From there, the students will identify a problem or a process they could help improve, then begin working on a solution.
“My biggest hope for the students is that they gain a better understanding of the impact of smaller scale projects in local communities,” Hutchen said. “By investigating one specific location, they can learn about how ordinary people can contribute to a sustainable economy. So often we think of bigger businesses having to hold up the economy, but I hope the students can see that global economies are much more complicated than that.”
Editor’s Note: YourHub plans to update the progress of the Evergreen Country Day World Affairs Challenge team through the 2018 competition in March.
World Affairs Challenge:
To learn more about the program, register a team, apply to be a mentor or a judge or make a financial donation on the website, visit worldaffairschallenge.org or call 720-608-1415.
Participating schools
Evergreen Country Day School (Jefferson County, private)
Denver Discovery School (Denver Public Schools)
McAuliffe International School (Denver Public Schools)
McAuliffe Manual Middle School (Denver Public Schools)
Cherokee Trail High School (Cherry Creek School District)
Hulstrom K-8 (Adams 12 Five Star Schools)
Aurora Hills Middle School (Aurora Public Schools)
Mackintosh Academy (Littleton, private)
Mackintosh Academy (Boulder, private)
Brentwood Middle School (Weld County School District)
CIVA Charter High School (Colorado Springs School District 11)
Falcon Middle School (Falcon School District 49)
Basalt High School (Roaring Fork School District)
