Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) — A group of Albany County School District No. 1 students, University of Wyoming graduate students and teachers and faculty had a unique opportunity in May to visit Croatia and learn about international collaboration.
The ACSD No. 1 students spent May 18-21 at an international youth summit in Rijeka, Croatia, sponsored by the International Centre for Innovation in Education, joining students from Poland, Serbia, Japan, Germany and several other countries. Students participated in panels and specialized in topics such as social justice and activism, entrepreneurship, art and science, the Laramie Boomerang reported (http://bit.ly/1UuSg1F).
The participating students are members of the student group Force of Altruism, a club started in 2009 following a class unit where students looked at visible and invisible people in the Laramie community, UW Lab School teacher Meredith McLaughlin said.
"I sometimes require an action step in my classes, so the action step they took was to start Force of Altruism — the student club that would just be available to be a force of helping to whoever needs it. . When I was asked to host this (opportunity), I had to figure out a place to host this," she said. "I had to figure out a place for it. And it made sense for it to be this kind of self-selected group of kids who opted into this group already, who already had a commitment to helping and serving."
McLaughlin said she had the opportunity to travel to Croatia through a grant in 2015 and visited several schools in the country.
"One of the schools they sent me to . their leader there, once she learned something about what our kids were doing as altruistic people at the Lab School and service learning-based learning, invited them to co-host an international youth summit to go along with this adult conference," she said.
The second half of the trip consisted of traveling throughout Croatia, including a trip to the capital, Zagreb, and a visit to the Center for Peace Studies. The group returned to Laramie this week.
Trista Ostrom, a UW master's student, said the students — 12 Lab School students and one Laramie High School student — went through a selection process to join the trip.
"They had to interview, and there was a selection committee who evaluated them. ... They didn't see their names; it was based on a rubric and their volunteerism and their community efforts and being involved and travel experience, and how they were going to pay it forward when we come home," she said. "How can we pay this forward to other people in the community?"
McLaughlin, Ostrom and the students were accompanied by several pre-service teachers in the UW College of Education, LHS band director Chris Olson and Tricia Johnson, an associate professor at UW.
The Lab School students raised money for the trip through taco sales, a paint party, and other fundraisers, as well as assistance from family members and GoFundMe, Ostrom said.
The trip was an opportunity to learn more about the world, she said.
"They're getting to interact with kids all over the world, and they also have pen pals that they've been involved with since January, about, that are from Croatia," she said. "And so they've gotten to know that culture a little bit more and be more prepared for this trip."
The Friday before they embarked on their trip, the students donned shirts stating "believe there is good in the world," with another message embedded in the words — "be the good" — spelled out in white letters.
Eighth-grader Carmen Leon, who was part of a panel on social justice and racism in America, said the Croatia trip was her first time traveling abroad.
"I can't wait to see everything," she said a few days before the group departed. "It's going to be such a great experience for me."
Seventh-grader Katie Kvenild said she was inspired to apply for the trip after joining Force of Altruism.
As a member of the technology panel, she planned to talk about the school library and technology classes — specifically a Sphero robot the students use.
"You can actually just drive it around and adjust the speed and color as you go, or you can make your own programs," she said. "One of the simplest ones to do is make the robot go in a square, but if you want to do something more advanced, you can make it go into a circle or a shape that's harder to do, or play a game of hot potato with it. It really has different levels for age groups."
Katie said she was excited to visit Zagreb and meet her Croatian pen pal, who she had been communicating with via Facebook.
"I feel like I've really grown from where I was this summer with altruism and social justice, and I'm really glad I did join and get to participate in this amazing experience," she said.
___
Information from: Laramie Boomerang, http://www.laramieboomerang.com
Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
