UNICEF SUMMIT BISB STUDENTS' PERSPECTIVE

Last week, Ariana, Luka, and Pryia, Year 12 (Grade 11) students at the British International School of Boston (BISB), joined over 120 Nord Anglia students from around the world at the annual NAE-UNICEF Student Summit. This year’s summit focused on innovation, with students discussing their efforts to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and create positive change in their local communities. Read on to hear the students' perspectives on the summit.

Priya's perspective:

Hello everyone, My name is Priyamvada and I am a rising senior at BISB. I along with Ariana and Luka got to travel to Texas last week and represent our school at the NAE-UNICEF summit. It was a week filled with insightful workshops, thought-provoking conversations, and beautiful friendships which will all stay with me for a long time to come. One of the first things we looked at at the summit was a video by UNICEF called “You’re just a child” Is there anything this week has taught me that you can never be too young to make a change in the world. Going into this week I was nervous about the fact that I didn’t know much about the UN or the sustainable development goals (SDG’S) but this was the biggest blessing in disguise. I discovered this week that not knowing something and admitting it is the best gift you can give yourself. Not knowing much about the SDG’s and having a genuine interest in them made the learning and enjoyment from this week increase two-fold for me.

One of the SDG’s that I felt most passionately about was number 5 gender equality, having grown up in India where there is a huge disparity in the way men and women are treated even in the biggest cities, and having witnessed and experienced it first-hand it was something that I wanted to bring a change to in my community. Although I was acting in my local community with financial independence for women from low-income households, I was unsure about how to take it to the next level. This is where the workshops we took part in helped me in a huge way. Analyzing situations and solutions using the sustainability compass and systems thinking could help me come up with the best conclusion that was in the interest of all the stakeholders. The advocacy and leadership skills we learned could help me elevate the awareness about the issue and the global connections I made can help in spreading this initiative to different countries. These are all just some of the skills I plan to take back with me to not only improving myself but also the community around me.

Furthermore, When I heard about all the amazing things my peers and students younger than me were doing around the world it motivated me in a way I can't explain. It led to me realize that all of us making small changes within our communities led to a huge change created by Nord Anglia students on the world. Each one of their peers’ talks and presentations gave me inspiration for something I can implement in my school or community. Right from the sustainable garden project at the British International School of Houston to the actions of reducing period poverty at the Oakridge schools in India. This summit not only encouraged me to take more action towards social impact in our BISB community but also to spread more awareness about the SDGs to our students and encourage them to take up their own social impact projects. Make them aware that making a change in the world is the most fun and gratifying thing they can do.

Ariana's perspective:

Hi everyone! My name is Ariana Goli and I just finished year 12 here at BISB. This year, I was extremely fortunate to be selected as a student delegate for the Nord Anglia Education/UNICEF Summit this June. The summit was located in the Village school in Houston, which is one of the two Nord Anglia locations in Houston.

The NAE UNICEF Summit is essentially a week-long event where select students from each Nord Anglia school around the world join together to discuss the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the initiatives we will collaborate on to achieve them. We based all of our workshops and events around this year’s theme of ‘Innovation’. This theme was prevalent throughout the summit, from student-led peer talks on our own social impact projects to getting hands-on learning in the Houston food bank. Additionally, we got to listen to lectures by UNICEF and Generation Global representatives from a range of backgrounds and experiences. These talks allowed me to engage and connect with professionals in my social impact field of interest, and they even counseled me through my own projects outside of the program!

The three of us (Luka, Priya and I) attended this summit with 123 other Nord Anglia students. Being able to work on social impact projects with a diverse, intelligent and passionate body of students from around the world was an experience I could never have even imagined having. Although meeting so many new students at once was truly overwhelming and scary, we all quickly formed one strong and cohesive community. The most beautiful part of this experience, however, was that I knew there was one thing I could resort to to bond with a foreign student who I have nothing in common with:

“How is the IB going for you?”

*sigh* “Me too!”

All the students on the program were participating in the IBDP, and in survival mode through it. It came upon us to build a strong and supportive community of student delegates so we could work through these challenges as a team. Not only did we learn to work together with each other’s global challenges, but we learned to support each other personally along the way.

Overall, this experience provided us with the lessons and knowledge needed to create the next generation of changemakers in the world. It gave me a strong community of like-minded students from around the world, and friendships that would last internationally and indefinitely.