Global Issues Class, IP Program Foster Student Initiative

by ANDREA LI

Anti-Personnel Landmines Detection

Product Development trains rats and dogs to detect landmines and tuberculosis.

APOPO, as the non-governmental organization is abbreviated in Dutch, is also one example of an NGO given $2,000 by the Global Issues for Global Citizens class at Menlo.

The Global Issues class and the Menlo Interdisciplinary and Personalized Scholars Program are available to students that are willing to take the initiative and work on personalized projects. The Menlo IP program encourages student initiative by culminating in a final capstone project, where students in one of the four fields of study in the program — civic leadership, community engagement and impact, arts and letters or global scholars — create an original project that is a summation of their work over the course. Meanwhile, the Global Issues class ends in a competition for the Youth Philanthropy Project grant, which allows students to donate to an NGO of their choice.

For his IP capstone project, junior Ryan Li investigated the long-term economic impacts of the exploitation of 19th-century Chinese-American migrant labor in the United States. Li was able to learn a lot from the course, and ended up writing a paper for his final project. “The overall IP capstone process has allowed me to do extensive research on a topic that I was interested in but usually wouldn't be able to study in other classes,” Li said. “In other classes, I wouldn't have learned that the over-exploitation of Chinese labor in an economic capitalist system actually led to political and social problems too.”

Junior Nikhil Kothari also chose to write a paper for his IP capstone project.

“I chose to study the Uyghur crisis, a cultural genocide occuring right now, [...] because the Uyghur crisis is intertwined with the history of how ethnic minorities have been treated in China,” Kothari said.

Similar to the global outlook of the Menlo IP program, the Global Issues for Global Citizens class aims to educate students about the global community.

“I want students to not only become well educated about the most pressing challenges that face us as a global community, but I also want students to become cosmopolitans,” Global Issues for Global Citizens teacher Matthew Nelson said.

Toward the end of the Global Issues class, students begin researching NGOs they wish to donate to, eventually deciding on one NGO. After this, according to Nelson, students contact their NGO, then pitch their NGO to the class to potentially be selected as a finalist for the YPP. Then, they pitch their NGOs to HAND foundation cofounder Noosheen Hashemi and Menlo Middle School parent Yana Kalika, who decide the grant recipients. Finalists are guaranteed around $1,000 for their NGO, but they are often granted more.

“So this year because we had two sections with 18 students in both sections [...] we had four finalists and one honorable mention move on to the final round,” Nelson said. “Then once on to the final round, these students amplify their presentations from five minutes to 10 minutes and they pitch once again, not to the class directly, but to Ms. Hashemi and Ms. Kalika [...] after each finalist presents, Ms. Kalika and Ms. Hashemi offer feedback, and then they award these cash prizes to the NGOs.”

This year, a total of eight students were awarded $2,000 for each of their NGOs.

One of these students was senior Justin Pretre, who chose to give the money to APOPO. Pretre found APOPO as he was looking for an NGO related to animals. “I was looking at NGOs that were related to animals and researching the best ones [...] I thought that [APOPO] was really interesting and unique, so I kind of just decided to focus on that,” Pretre said. According to Pretre, the money donated will likely go to research and training the animals.

Junior Danae Yotopoulos chose Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation to donate to because of its goals to rescue children in Vietnam from human trafficking.

“From the start, I knew I wanted to focus my project on an NGO that addresses human trafficking,” Yotopoulos said. “Through their holistic approach to provide exceptional care to Vietnamese children in crisis [...] I knew Blue Dragon was a perfect candidate for the HAND grant.”

The money Yotopoulos donated with the help of the HAND grant will be going to help rescue two children from human trafficking. “After being in contact with Kim Miller, a member of the Blue Dragon team, I learned that [...] the cost to rescue one victim of human trafficking is about $1000, so this donation will be used to rescue two children from human trafficking either within, or across the borders of, Vietnam,” Yotopoulos said.

Meanwhile, senior Jane Hratko, another finalist for the grant, chose to benefit Reclaim Childhood. According to their website, Reclaim Childhood provides “safe and inclusive spaces for refugee and local girls in Jordan to thrive by playing sports, working with coaches, and building community.”

Hratko chose Reclaim Childhood for various reasons but was primarily interested in its method of providing for young refugee girls. “I was particularly drawn to Reclaim Childhood because of its theory of change: using sports to facilitate the social inclusion of girls, especially refugee girls, in Jordanian society,” Hratko said. “Being on sports teams was a special source of community in my childhood and I wanted to help make that possible for other girls as well.”

For Hratko, the Global Issues for Global Citizens class and its culmination in the YPP was powerful. “I learned to think more deeply about the responsibility that we have, as individuals, to help solve global issues. The YPP showed me that I can have a measurable, positive impact and it certainly inspires me as I think about what I want to pursue in college and beyond,” Hratko said.