NEW YORK, June 26, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The High School for Global Citizenship (HSGC) -- Global Kids' innovative school in Brooklyn -- will graduate its first senior class on June 27th. The school has won praise as one of New York City's leading new small high schools by taking students from underserved communities and engaging them first-hand in the democratic process, with a strong emphasis on foreign policy issues and the connections between their personal lives and international events.
The moving commencement ceremony will be held at 4:00 p.m. at the Brooklyn Museum, near the HSGC building in the school's Prospect Park neighborhood. The museum is located at 200 Eastern Parkway and can be reached by the 2 or 3 subway to Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum.
Mark Winston Griffith, a Fellow of the Drum Major Institute and a journalist who has published numerous articles on economic and social justice, will be the keynote speaker. The renowned human rights activist Cora Weiss will receive an award for her commitments to the school and to Global Kids. The school chorus is scheduled to perform.
The success of the High School for Global Citizenship in developing engaged, globally aware future leaders is personified by one of this year's graduating students: Aneka Hewitt.
Ms. Hewitt used HSGC as a forum to explore social activism. While at HSGC, Aneka started Mji wa Salama to support Children's Home in Kenya, which provides a home to children who have been orphaned as a result of HIV/AIDS.
Aneka is grateful for HSGC's continued support of her important fundraising and awareness building work for the organization: "My most positive experience with HSGC was coming back (from the Peace Boat trip) and being able to start my own organization and ... be able to have my school behind me every step of the way, supporting our fundraisers and being involved with our workshops. You can tell how much a community HSGC was at that moment when everyone was supporting me."
Aneka will enroll at Global College, a division of Long Island University. She picked the college for its opportunities to study and travel internationally. She plans to study Hindi, Spanish, and possibly Mandarin while abroad.
HSGC was opened by Global Kids in 2004 as a laboratory for the organization's highly respected approach to international education and experiential learning. More than 80% of the school's population is eligible for free or reduced lunch, and the overwhelming majority enters below grade level in math and reading. However, HSGC students are succeeding academically and participating in an impressive array of extra-curricular activities. They regularly interact with business leaders, ambassadors, and other global leaders; they have presented at United Nations conferences; they have traveled to Africa, Europe, and the Middle East; and they organize impressive events in their communities to raise awareness about critical global issues.
About Global Kids, Inc.
Founded in 1989, Global Kids' mission is to transform urban youth into successful students and global and community leaders by engaging them in socially dynamic, content-rich learning experiences. Through its leadership development and academic enrichment programs, Global Kids educates youth about critical international and domestic issues and promotes their engagement in civic life and the democratic process. Through professional development initiatives, Global Kids provides educators with strategies for integrating experiential learning methods and international issues into urban classrooms. Over ninety percent of the high school seniors who participate in Global Kids' leadership program graduate from high school.
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