The Global Leadership Adventures summer program in the Galapagos is focused on learning about the conservation efforts in the Galapagos Island.  This archipelago where Darwin formulated his theory of natural selection is a living classroom and one of the most unique places on earth.

However, its fame is also bringing massive tourism and foreign currency and is creating an economic boom attracting migrants from the mainland.  This is putting development up against conservation.

This slideshow and narrative from the New York Times perfectly captures the situation.  It’s a beautiful slideshow that is totally worth watching!

Continuing on the thread of being a global citizen during the year (and not just on an international summer program)…  there are a few great organizations that offer high school students a structured program to make a difference on key global issues.  In most cases, the organization supports student clubs with materials, training, trips and resources to help raise awareness and funds to support international causes.

New Global Citizens has been a partner of Global Leadership Adventures for a few years.  They are a great organization that helps students set up clubs in their school and even sends a representative to your school to help train the team.  Each club picks an international NGO that they’ll support over the course of the year.

Global Citizen Corps is a project of Mercy Corps.  They also have resources for high school clubs.  But what’s really cool is their year-long Leadership program that includes a Leadership Summit with a select group of teens to New York and sets up meetings at the UN, with NGOs and teleconferences with other global leaders.  This articles tells more.

Amnesty International is probably the best known human rights organization.  There are thousands of Amnesty groups on college and high school campuses that engage in letter writing campaigns and petitions to governments to release political prisoners or improve human rights around the world.  Register your school group online and you will receive a toolkit to get started.  Or, if you’re a 1-person movement, use their great online activist toolkit and get started today.

After a great summer of programming, hundreds of teens volunteering abroad, and thousands of unforgettable memories, it’s now time to return to school. My hope is that the pressures of school, sports and college admissions will not dilute the impact of the student’s summer experiences. In fact, now is the time to begin to really take action.

I have always believed that international volunteer programs like Global Leadership Adventures are really a starting point for young global citizens.

So, I was thrilled to see GLA Tanzania alumnae, Brittney Calzone, featured in an article in the local newspaper in Redding, Connecticut.  Brittney started a drive to collect books for the Himo Secondary School that GLA works with in Tanzania.  If you read the article, you’ll see that Brittney is trying to figure out how to ship the books to Tanzania – if anyone can help, please contact us and we’ll connect you with Brittney.

In the coming weeks, I will continue to post stories about students who are staying involved in global issues and new opportunities that exist for teens right in their own backyard!