This summer, New York City public school students are learning about important foreign policy issues at one of the world's preeminent international institutions.
Thirty high school students, from 14 different City public schools, are participating in “The U.S. in the World Program on International Law and Foreign Policy.” The intensive three week institute is run by Global Kids, a non-profit organization committed to transforming urban youth into global and community leaders, and the Council on Foreign Relations.
“This program is more than what I expected,” Chiziterem Uwaga, a native Nigerian who is a student at Canarsie High School in Brooklyn, said. “I’ve gotten particularly interested in PEPFAR, which provides foreign aid to countries mostly in Africa to alleviate the problem of AIDS. I had never heard of it before, so when I get back to school, I will bring up the issues in class.” 
The “U.S. in the World Program” includes workshops about key foreign policy issues, ranging from the humanitarian crisis in Darfur to micro-credit in Uganda to the Kyoto protocol. The students also attend lectures by experts in international affairs, such as Ted Sorensen, an advisor to President John F. Kennedy, and conduct simulations of various international crisis scenarios. On Fridays, the students take field trips to other international institutions, such as Human Rights Watch and UNICEF.
Tsechu Dolma, a student at The Renaissance Charter School in Queens, said she has found the UN program inspirational. “I’ve always been interested in international issues, especially Tibetan-Chinese and Chinese-Sino relations, because I am an immigrant myself,” Tsechu, who grew up in Nepal and India before moving to the United States three years ago, said. “I’ve met so many diplomats, which is very inspirational, and I’ve gotten insights into the State departments. My parents are immigrants and they have no connections, and I feel like I’m making connections here.”
A key component of the program requires students to develop projects about specific topics, such as AIDS, human trafficking, and global warming, and formulate plans to educate their peers back at their schools in the fall. Justine Avendano, who is from the Philippines and is a student at the Academy of American Studies in Queens, is very passionate about spreading the word on global warming. “The point of the program is to bring all this back to school and create an educated population on global issues,” he said.
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