On Saturday, March 20, the Illinois Global Scholar certificate program held its fourth annual summit. This year the summit took place virtually, and high school students and teachers from around the world — from Armenia to Jordan to Serbia to the U.S. —attended. The theme this year was “the power of perspective.”
“Given the impact of COVID-19, we decided to [organize this year’s summit] virtually with a focus on dialogue,” said Seth Brady, Illinois Global Scholar project director and a teacher at Naperville Central High School. “We were pleased to have 22 countries and over one hundred schools participate. I was grateful to help create an opportunity that offered students and educators an opportunity to share the impact of this truly global moment.”
The European Union Center has been a sponsor of the Illinois Global Scholar certificate program since its inception in 2015 and seeded the program’s launch. In 2017, the Illinois State Board of Education signed the legislation that created the Illinois Global Scholar Certificate. High school students in Illinois can now earn the certificate through globally-focused coursework, service learning, and a capstone project.
This year’s summit began with a breathing exercise and guidelines, which included being empathetic, giving full attention to others, and being open to other viewpoints. The first speaker of the day was Natalia, a student from Naperville Central High School who briefly presented on her Illinois Global Scholar project on prison reform and humane practices for incarceration.
After watching the documentary “13th,” Natalia was struck by the fact that the U.S. has 5 percent of the world’s population but 25 percent of the incarcerated population. She became interested in Norway’s criminal justice system, which focuses on rehabilitation rather than punishment. Natalia learned about an initiative in which prison officials from North Dakota and Oregon visited Norway’s prison system in order to reform correctional facilities back home.
Natalia was inspired to create two resolutions and meet with state representatives, who agreed to help Natalia get her resolutions heard by the Illinois General Assembly.
Next, summit attendees heard from Wali Khan, a motivational speaker and former trauma nurse who is now studying to become a nurse anesthetist. Wali started his keynote talk with the observation that almost exactly a year has gone by since the state of Illinois went into lockdown on March 19, 2020. In the early days of the pandemic, Wali said, many people went into a “survival of the fittest” mindset, stockpiling groceries and toilet paper. Wali recalled seeing an elderly man in a grocery store, looking down at his grocery list and up at the empty shelves.
For Wali, the scene in the grocery store illustrated the fear-induced greed and gluttony that accompanied the pandemic. “It shouldn’t have taken a pandemic for people to realize that they should look out for each other,” Wali said, noting that this past year has shown us that we are all a global family. What happens in one part of the world can affect everyone.
After the keynote talk, summit participants were split into 10 breakout rooms. In each room, two or three facilitators led a discussion on takeaways from Wali’s talk, individual experiences of the pandemic, and what surprised everyone about themselves or others during this time. A common theme during the discussions was the personal reflection and growth that resulted from the pandemic and lockdown. One student from the U.S. spoke about how difficult it was not to be able to see his friends, but this is something to which he has successfully adjusted. Another student from the U.S. mentioned reevaluating her religious beliefs during the pandemic.
A number of students talked about gratitude and acceptance. A student from Georgia said that the pandemic made her more aware of the need to appreciate the simple things in life. Another student, from the U.S., said that she realized that nothing should be taken for granted, including mundane things like playing sports and seeing her friends at school.
Angelique Evans, a EU Center graduate student who previously worked overseas as a teacher for 10 years, served as a breakout room facilitator. “After assuring my students this wasn’t a place of judgment but a place to share openly our thoughts and feelings, the students in our group shared amazing feats,” Evans recalled. “One young lady shared she wrote a book of poems. Another discussed the way she and her peers rallied around a classmate who needed support regarding her SAT. I was proud of the accomplishments and tenacity of the young people from around the world in my room. I look forward to participating again next year.”
After about forty minutes of breakout room discussion, everyone returned to the main session, and a representative from each group shared some highlights of what they discussed.
The final speaker during the summit was David, a student who completed an Illinois Global Scholar project on the treatment of the Muslim Uighurs in China. David began his presentation by asking the audience to think about where they were 12 years ago. “Now imagine facing 12 years of human rights violations,” said David, who then gave an account of the human rights abuses faced by China’s Uighurs, which include forced sterilization, torture, detention, and political indoctrination. Like Natalia, David noted that social media helped him learn about issues around the world, and it was initially through a social media platform that he learned about human rights abuses against Uighurs in China.
The summit concluded with an overview of the Illinois Global Scholar certificate. High school students in Illinois may receive the certificate by completing eight courses that have a strong global focus; participating in a globally-focused service learning project; collaborating on projects with peers around the world; and completing a capstone assessment task.
After the summit, Brady shared with the EU Center a few quotes from students in attendance. “I love how we are all able to unite after such a hard year,” one student said. “My biggest takeaway is to focus on how to create a better global community by opening yourself to sharing and learning others’ perspectives and ideas.” Another student said, “Talking to a teacher from Moldova really provided me with a new perspective on this whole situation. Everyone has had to adapt to COVID in similar ways, even from across the world.”
For more information on the Illinois Global Scholar program, see: https://global-illinois.org.
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