OLMatters - The School Paper
Capturing Memories for the Future
Vol X
Aug 2014 - July 2015
GIN Buenos Aires Report by OLMobility Team
The OLM students had a great opportunity to participate in the 2014 GIN Conference. Its main objective was to have students from various American schools debate the top-20 global issues as detailed by Jean François Rischard in his book High Noon-20 Global Problems, 20 Years to Solve Them.
Famous keynote speakers were invited to inspire the audience with their unique projects in different areas such as the environment, climate changes, and volunteer work. Sarah DuPont, from the Amazon Aid Foundation, played her movie “Amazon Gold”, which talked about the illegal exploration of gold from the Amazon forest and the problems that the unconventional methods of collecting gold cause. Zach Bonner, founder of “The Little Red Foundation, Inc.”, showed the importance of persevering in anything you do. Austin Gutwein started his own foundation, “Hoops for Hope”, with the objective to help orphan children in Zambia. He was able to join two things he enjoys, which include basketball and helping others. Marlena Mansilla Hermann, founder of the Fundación TierraVida, encouraged the students to take action in projects regarding sustainability, regardless of age, because one is never too young to help. John D. Liu, a photojournalist concentrated on ecological areas, came once more to ensure students that the positive modifications of ecosystems are possible. He showed different places in China and Ethiopia that have improved drastically due to proper use and care of the land. Yoca Arditi-Rocha, the founder of No Planet B, spoke on the importance of addressing climate change as an overall issue, then subsequently finding solutions to stop it and preventions to reduce it as well.
Our school was represented by Carolina Lopes (11th grade), Paula Camara, Rafaella Benjamim (10th grade), and Gabriella Nothaft (9th grade). All of whom were well prepared to present and answer questions related to the "OLMobility" project. They conducted a series of interactive activities, which intrigued and demonstrated their knowledge of the urban mobility and traffic safety areas. We are very proud of the students for producing such a wonderful presentation. We would like to thank their parents and the school for all the support during these past several months of exhausting work in preparation for the challenge. You can see their work in http://global-issues-network.org/lsba2014/session-5/ and the presentation video below.
The OLMobility project was one of several workshop options for the various students from other schools to learn from. Workshops were developed in numerous areas. OLM students and teachers learned a lot about many different topics including child obesity, burn prevention, global warming, nutrition, and bullying.
Interaction and collaboration between the various schools were organized into "Village groups" for students and "Meeting of the Minds" for advisors. Many discussions and decisions for future meetings were developed in these groups. At the end of each day, the Lincoln School planned entertaining activities such as Rock Bands and Tango lessons for the participants. The school also offered a traditional Argentinian barbecue, the “Assado”, which all the students and teachers had a chance to appreciate.
As part of the conference trip, students and teachers visited different areas of Buenos Aires with a knowledgeable guide that explained more about the history of the city and the importance of the particular areas. The tour included Casa Rosada, Boca Juniors’ stadium, Caminito, and Porto Madero. The SAGE program, proposed by AASSA, planned a variety of activities to let the participants experience a little bit of Buenos Aires’ culture. We had a particularly great experience during the “milonga”, which is a traditional Argentinian dinner that included tango lessons for all of the OLM participants.
Congratulations, Lincoln School!
We can't wait for 2015 GIN in Rio de Janeiro at EARJ!