PeaceJam

Posted by on November 14, 2003

[posted to College Prep Round Table]

I am currently working for a International Peace organization named PeaceJam. Last year we had our first Peacejam in the City of Philadelphia at Drexel University. While we have partnerships with many different youth organizations in the city i would like to inform the rest of the members of the College Round table of our program. Listed below is brief outline however you and the rest of the members can gain more information at http://www.peacejam.org the mission of Peacejam is to get youth more empowered in their communities.

PEACEJAM MISSION STATEMENT
PeaceJam is an international education program built around leading Nobel Peace Laureates who work personally with youth to pass on the spirit, skills and wisdom they embody. The goal of PeaceJam is to inspire a new generation of peacemakers who will transform their local communities, themselves and the world.

WHO IS IT FOR?
High school-aged youth, high school teachers and youth group leaders, college-age mentors. In the future, PeaceJam will move to broaden the age-range of the PeaceJam program.

GOALS & OBJECTIVES OF PEACEJAM
Although some of the youth involved in PeaceJam will be from neighborhood youth organizations, we have used the term student to describe all youth involved in the project because of its educational nature.

l. Students will understand the PeaceJam project – its scope, purpose, and the opportunities for youth education and action.

2. Students will be able to define the concepts and different dimensions of racism, violence and peace.

3. Students will determine what qualities and core values would go into the making of a peacemaker in their school, neighborhood, and world.

4. Students will be able to compare and contrast their own definitions of peacemaker with the criteria used to select the Nobel Peace Prize winners.

5. Students will conduct a case study on the life and actions of a Nobel Peace Laureate.

6. Students will discuss and develop an awareness of a Nobel Peace Laureate’s views on how to make a friend out of an enemy.

7. Students will discuss and develop an awareness of a Nobel Peace Laureate’s views on violence, racism and tolerance.

8. Students will discuss and develop an awareness of a Nobel Peace Laureate’s views on responsibility, family, and community.

10. Students will discuss and develop an awareness of a Nobel Peace Laureate’s culture.

11. Students will demonstrate their ability to be active problem solvers and peacemakers by:
a) designing and implementing a school or neighborhood-based service project or participate in one that already exists either locally or globally that addresses a problem and exemplifies the qualities of active problem solvers and the core values of peacemakers.

b) preparing a poster that depicts their action peace plan to bring to the conference.

12. Students will formulate three key questions to ask the Nobel Peace Laureate during the conference about their home country, racism and violence, the reconciliation process or their own concerns about their neighborhood or world.

13. Students will select four representatives from their class to attend the PeaceJam conference. The representatives from each class will present the proposals and ideas formulated in their class at the conference.

14. The student representatives will share the highlights of this conference with their class, and they will then work together to implement their community service project.

15. Students will develop and implement performance evaluation criteria for assessing where they are in their peacemaking apprenticeship.

PeaceJam provides detailed, active curricula created by the 12 participating Nobel Peace Laureates. Young people are empowered to created change within their own communities and to participate on the global level in interacting with new Laureates from across the world each year.

The materials are rich in academics. Social Studies, Geography, History, Reading, Critical Thinking, Research Skills and Civics are the main disciplines that are enhanced by the PeaceJam program.

The assets for the youth include becoming active and aware participants in the neighborhoods that they live in, improved academic skills (listed above), the opportunity to become a team player and critical thinker on the local and global levels, using work with Nobel Peace Laureates on college applications/resumes, college recommendations from PeaceJam staff that attest to the caliber of student and work achieved, and so forth.

I am looking forward to working with you once again and am excited about the prospect of sharing the PeaceJam experience with College Round table youth form across the Philadelphia area. If I can be of assistance, please feel free to call or email!

Peace,
Director of East Coast PeaceJam
Myra B. Julian
(267) 231-9512
peacejamphilly@msn.com

Derrick V. Holloway
Director of Education
(215) 651-6531