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 Our
Work Case
Studies Empower
Peace |
Empower Peace
The Challenge:
To build a worldwide network of high school students and teachers committed to
breaking down cultural barriers and misperceptions through open dialogue using
video-conferencing and the Internet.
The Goals:
Primary: To bring about a climate of mutual respect and understanding by
exposing youth to their contemporaries from abroad. To educate, motivate, and
empower young people and their teachers to breakdown cultural barriers of
misconception toward one another and begin building bridges of understanding,
respect and friendship among themselves and their peers from around the world.
Secondary: To establish an international network of schools, long distance
learning and youth organizations using interactive technology, video
conferencing, the Internet and E-mail as a means of communication.
Tertiary: To develop programs and program content for teachers and students to
utilize inside and outside of the classroom about peace and mutual respect.
The Solution:
The Rendon Group developed Empower Peace, an international program that uses
video conferencing technology and the Internet to bring together teens from the
United States and the Mid East. The Rendon Group brought together a coalition
of Technology and educational leaders to make Empower Peace a reality.
Empower Peace first had to secure host school(s) that had video conferencing
capabilities in order for them to be able to talk with the other host schools.
Empower Peace worked with each of the host schools in recruiting four student
Ambassadors from their classroom to introduce their classroom, their "Day In
The Life" video, Public Service Announcement (PSA) for Peace, class performance
and/or closing class room remarks. Once the host schools where secured, the
Empower Peace staff was busy recruiting teachers from around the world to view
the live exchange with their classroom via the Empower Peace web site and later
discuss ways they could promote peace and tolerance. The next step was to
recruit a facilitator for each of the host schools, local performers and
prominent public figures. The facilitator would act as liaisons on behave of
the school he or she was representing.
During the Empower Peace exchange students talked about a typical day, their
cultures and customs of their country. Some of the students even wrote and
produced Public Service Announcements (PSAs) for Peace and/or the "Day in the
life" videos about what it was like growing up in their country.
Outcome:
Empower Peace launched its first worldwide youth-based initiative on May 22,
2003, linking together high school students in Boston, MA USA with students in
Manama, Bahrain through live video-conference. The 90-minute broadcast was
streamed over the Internet allowing students and teachers around the globe to
log onto www.empowerpeace.com to view the discussion live. Students engaged in
a lively discussion about their culture, home and school life, and after school
activities.
The second Empower Peace took place May 11, 2004, with students from
Long Beach High School in Long Island, New York and students from five
different schools in Amman, Jordan. Students from the 2003 Boston to Bahrain
video exchange also participated by submitting their questions live to the
students in New York and Jordan. Over 4,024 estimated students from 114
classrooms in 26 countries from the 6 continents
tuned in to view the successful and much needed event.
The third Empower Peace will take place on September 29, 2005, with
students from Long Beach High School in Long Island, New York, a student
delegation from three Greater Boston high schools at Tufts University in
Boston, Massachusetts, and students from Islamabad, Pakistan.
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