LearnServe 2006 Trips Begin

The 2006 LearnServe trips are currently underway. Both the Ethiopia and Paraguay teams are "blogging" their progress with live reports from the field. Follow their progress on the LearnServe Paraguay 2006 blog and the LearnServe Ethiopia 2006 blog. LearnServe is an immersion program for students and teachers. CIE takes school teams of students and teachers to developing countries, such as Ethiopia and Paraguay, to learn about efforts and projects that are making a difference in peoples' lives.

These trips are designed to make lasting contributions to the communities and countries we visit. We are committed to teaching about lasting change and developing long-term partnerships between the schools here and the communities we serve in developing countries.

Jefferson Middle School uses National Hunger Awareness Day to launch Action Plan

We've recently heard that Thomas Jefferson Middle School in Arlington County used National Hunger Awareness Day to launch their Action Plan, Let's Work to Eliminate Hunger and Poverty, on June 6th 2006. The project leaders are students Disha Juneja and Sondai Costley. Good luck to you all, and let us know how it goes! Sometimes the toughest barrier to completing an Action Plan is starting it, but that doesn't mean waiting until Hunger Awareness Day 2007... Pick any day in the next few months and set your sights on it!

Teachers and students visit Ethiopia and Paraguay

This summer, student and teacher teams from public and private schools around the DC region will spend more than two weeks travelling to Ethiopia and Paraguay to learn about the challenges faced by peoples in developing nations. Both LearnServe Ethiopia and LearnServe Paraguay groups will report their experiences from their countries. Their stories and photos will be published through blogs, and will capture their collective experiences as they learn about problems like hunger, food security, and poverty. Follow their progress as it happens with the teams' blogs, which will be accessible on the LSE and LSP program links above!

The year in review and the year to come

CIE-WIS had one goal this year—to help schools begin to define what it means to be "international." Our student leadership program—the IFE Fellows, our annual Call to Action symposium in late February, and our summer LearnServe programs in Paraguay and Ethiopia have involved over fifty public and non-public schools in the DC area, helping raise global awareness in each one. Beginning in September, CIE will launch its third year. The title for the year will be Making Connections: Backyard and Global. Our goal is the next step in CIE's mission—to assist schools in implementing programs that connect our communities and students to the pressing global issues that face humankind. We will have a launch event in the early fall to celebrate some of the school successes to date and to announce our fall program. Next year will include:

• An expanded Fellows program for student leaders
• A symposium and follow up training sessions that take your school global—again connecting you to exceptional organizations
• LearnServes in Ethiopia, Paraguay, and announcing our latest, China

Have a great summer!