Guiding Question:

• Why is it important for students go begin projects involving service learning and community engagement with relationship building?

Key Takeaways:

• Building relationships with a local school and working with them to address vision challenges of students to reduce barriers to learning and improve as student outcomes.
• Community partnerships - In this case, collaborating with a local optometrist.
• Engaging in social entrepreneurship to generate funds for the project.
• Resilience, perseverance, and staying positive as important at attributes of changemakers.
• Living your school values through service learning.

If you have enjoyed this podcast please take a moment to subscribe, and also we’d appreciate it if you could please us a review on your favorite podcast platform. The way the algorithm works, this helps our podcast reach more listeners. Thanks from IC for your support.

• Learn more about how Inspire Citizens co-designs customized student leadership and changemakers programs
• Connect with more stories from the Inspire Citizens network in our vignettes
• Measuring the IMPACT of Service Learning projects and initiatives
• Access free resources for global citizenship education
• Share on social media using #EmpathytoImpact

Episode Summary

On this episode of Empathy to Impact, host Scott Jamieson visits Colegio George Washington in Cartagena, Colombia to speak with 9th grade students Miranda and Fiorella about their 8th grade service-learning project, which identified widespread vision problems in the nearby, vulnerable community of Manzanillo Del Mar. After researching visual health, partnering with an optometrist for screenings, and fundraising through a student-run waffle sale and contributions, the class provided personalized glasses to children in need, formed meaningful cross-community friendships (most notably with a girl named Aslyn), and learned practical skills—problem solving, persistence, empathy, and cooperation—that prepared them for more complex high-school projects while reinforcing their school values and the lasting impact of community-centered learning.

Discover a transformative podcast on education and learning from a student perspective and student voice, exploring media, media literacy, and media production to inspire citizens in schools through a media lab focused on 21st-century learning, empathy to impact, Global citizenship, collaboration, systems thinking, service learning, PBL, CAS, MYP, PYP, DP, Service as Action, futures thinking, project-based learning, sustainability, well-being, harmony with nature, community engagement, experiential learning, and the role of teachers and teaching in fostering well-being and a better future.

Guiding Question:

• How might schools empower students by giving them more agency in their learning and evolving curricula to better reflect their needs and interests?

Key Takeaways:

• Strengthening collaboration through building more effective teams
• The future of education is not one size fits all
• Leaning in to AI - AI is a good collaborator, but is not a good leader. And it’s not cheating.

If you have enjoyed this podcast please take a moment to subscribe, and also we’d appreciate it if you could leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. The way the algorithm works, this helps our podcast reach more listeners. Thanks from IC for your support.

• Learn more about how Inspire Citizens co-designs customized student leadership and changemakers programs
• Join the community at What School Could Be
• Check out Role Color Finder
• Connect with more stories from the Inspire Citizens network in our vignettes
• Measuring the IMPACT of Service Learning projects and initiatives
• Access free resources for global citizenship education
• Share on social media using #EmpathytoImpact

Episode Summary

On this episode, I talk to Sanjay, a high school freshman and CEO of Role Color Finder. Join us as we as we discuss how this tool can help us to learn about our strengths as leaders and build stronger collaborations within our teams. Sanjay also shares his thoughts on the future of education and how AI might support schools to move away from a one size fits all approach to a more personalized model of learning that will lead to greater student agency and engagement in schools. If you are thinking about identifying strengths, AI’s role in education, student engagement and wellbeing and managing unsustainable workloads for students and educators, or maybe something out-of-the-box like having angel investors to support young, aspiring entrepreneurs in schools, this podcast for you.

Discover a transformative podcast on education and learning from a student perspective and student voice, exploring media, media literacy, and media production to inspire citizens in schools through a media lab focused on 21st-century learning, empathy to impact, Global citizenship, collaboration, systems thinking, service learning, PBL, CAS, MYP, PYP, DP, Service as Action, futures thinking, project-based learning, sustainability, well-being, harmony with nature, community engagement, experiential learning, and the role of teachers and teaching in fostering well-being and a better future.

Guiding Question:

• How might we empower our students by giving them freedom and agency to explore local issues that they are passionate about and utilize their public speaking skills to connect with local policy makers to raise awareness and inspire change?

Key Takeaways:

• A different take on service learning and advocacy to raise awareness about important issues in our local community through public speaking.
• Modeling best practices in PBL by presenting work to an authentic audience.
• Using service learning as a vehicle to get to know more about our local community.
• How service learning experiences build essential skills and mindsets that shape students’ next steps as they move on from high school by giving them real-world experience.

If you have enjoyed this podcast please take a moment to subscribe, and also we’d appreciate it if you could leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. The way the algorithm works, this helps our podcast reach more listeners. Thanks from IC for your support.

• Learn more about how Inspire Citizens co-designs customized student leadership and changemakers programs
• Learn more about the amazing service learning program at COJOWA
• Connect with more stories from the Inspire Citizens network in our vignettes
• Measuring the IMPACT of Service Learning projects and initiatives
• Access free resources for global citizenship education
• Share on social media using #EmpathytoImpact

Episode Summary

On this episode, I meet Matilde, Dominique, Laura, Marianna, Sophia, & Miguel, an amazing group of seniors from Colegio Jorge Washington (COJOWA) in Cartagena, Colombia. These students were involved in a service learning project where they had the freedom and agency to choose a topic important to them that impacts their local community. This was an interdisciplinary project that was part of their Spanish language and sociales (Spanish social studies) classes that involved public speaking. Their job was to create a speech to inspire change in their community and to add a level of authenticity, the final speeches were delivered to influential members of their community, including the mayor and local media. These students were the finalists from their class selected to give their speech to these important policymakers, as well as fellow students and members of the school community, allowing them to reach a large audience and advocate for an issue that they care about. Hit play to learn more.

Discover a transformative podcast on education and learning from a student perspective and student voice, exploring media, media literacy, and media production to inspire citizens in schools through a media lab focused on 21st-century learning, empathy to impact, Global citizenship, collaboration, systems thinking, service learning, PBL, CAS, MYP, PYP, DP, Service as Action, futures thinking, project-based learning, sustainability, well-being, harmony with nature, community engagement, experiential learning, and the role of teachers and teaching in fostering well-being and a better future.