Casady Challenge 20/20 History

HISTORY OF NAIS CHALLENGE 20/20 AT CASADY SCHOOL

NAIS arrived to Casady via e-mail request for participation. Students undertook the challenge of a Massive Step Against Poverty first. Then they added Global Warming-Climate Change. Our first interaction with NAIS was informal. Mrs. Williams from the Primary Division empowered a partnership with Bishop McAllister College in Uganda where she had been doing missionary work for years. At the NAIS Conference in Boston, Mrs. Clay met Mrs. Vickie Weeks, Global Education Service-Learning Director from Lakeside School in Seattle. Mrs. Weeks had a program with the Catcco Museum, Youth Board in Ollantaytambo, Peru. The youth leaders of Challenge 20/20 from the Class of 2007 and 2008 started a collaboration with the Youth Board of the Museum and the Uganda school.

Youth Leaders of Challenge 20/20, Poverty/Hunger Challenge

Andrew G: Attending Harvard University. Projects: Awareness of global hunger through World Neighbors (WN) Hunger Banquet Fundraisers ($20,000 in two years), WN World Fest Involvement: Promote remote villages' art and send proceeds back to the villages for immediate needs. Lack of electricity and Internet challenges did not allow the partnership with Uganda to flourish. We continue to work with World Neighbors. Mrs. Williams from the Primary Division continues her work with Bishop McAllister College.

Leann F.: Attending Rhodes College. Project: Walk the World (WtW) 2005-2008: $30,0000 for United Nations World Food Program-School Meals. Leann was a guest of the United Nations 2005 WtW debriefing meeting in Rome, Italy. Leann was the first youth to undertake a youth-led grassroots walk. Graham B. did the WtW'2009 and raised $2,000+

The Catcco Museum Youth board had a Walk around Ollantaytambo, Peru to raise awareness of childhood hunger in their city. The Casady service-learning program developed a summer global education service-learning program with an elementary school in Ollantaytambo, Peru after that walk. 18 Cyclones in collaboration with World Leadership School, Lakeside School of Seattle, and Groton School of Boston are transforming a pile of rubble into an ecological playground designed and maintained by the children of Ollantaytambo, Peru. Members of Land of Children Project, Jake P., Kendall H, and Mackenzie W., presented their project at the Second International Service-Learning Conference in Teacher Education in Galway, Ireland.

Ankita P.: Attending Berkeley University. Project: Awareness of childhood hunger in OKC. Member of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma Youth Board and a Summer Intern at World Neighbors. Fundraisers: Student Against Hunger: Casady Cans Do, Canned Food Drive (4,500 tons of food, $1,500+); Walk the World 2007-2008: Food-4-Kids Program of the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma ($1,000). Ankita presented Casady's NAIS Challenge 20/20 at the First International Service-Learning Conference in Teacher Education in Brussels and developed a partnership with one of the conference participants, a history teacher from the International School in Brussels. She also presented the NAIS Challenge 20/20 opportunity at the Department of Environmental Quality-Earth Day 2008 Celebration at the Oklahoma City Zoo.

Youth Leaders of Challenge 20/20: Global Warming, Climate Change Challenge
Rebecca R in collaboration with Josh O led the Global Warming Challenge last year. In the past two years, they have read portions of the book High Noon, seing parts of the documentary The Inconvenient Truth, contacted Sierra Club representatives and Casady faculty to raise their own awareness and helped promote recycling in our school. Josh and Rebecca wrote grants to provide cameras to document climate change in OKC and Peru. They received cameras and materials from Facing the Future.org.

Our international discussion collaborators in the area of Global Warming/Climate Change challenge were the International School in Brussels, Mount Saint Mary School of Pennsylvania, and the Cloud Forest School in Costa Rica. The collaborations did not go far. We met each other and shared what we were doing, but we did not start something together. Teacher sponsors left the schools and the collaborations stopped. Josh created a website and had one skype teleconference with the school in Costa Rica.

Rebecca and Josh were interested in awareness and reduction of carbon footprint and water conservation. One of the adult sponsors of this project was interested in awareness of ecological footprint and energy conservation. Rebecca led the efforts last year and Josh will lead the efforts this year. Thanks to an "informal partnership" with the Oklahoma Green School Pilot Program, Josh has obtained recycling bins to promote recycling of cans and plastic and he is in the process of developing a stronger collaboration with the Casady Environmental Club and the Casady administrative efforts in turning our school greener. Challenge 20.20 is exciting about breaking ground of our first LEED building soon.