Information about the International Community School: icsgeorgia.org.
It started with a book that International Community School parent Patti Ghezzi and her daughter read together. “Where Children Sleep” features stories from children across the globe and highlights their personal spaces and stories. “She just devoured it and was so fascinated by all the stories,” said Ghezzi.
Learning about children’s living conditions in other parts of the world dovetailed with the mission of the 14-year-old Decatur school, designed to educate refugee children without subordinating their culture.
“They benefit from this specialized school setting, while local children who go there benefit from learning from the refugee children,” explained Ghezzi, whose own world view has also expanded by being an ICS parent. “I now know where countries I didn’t know existed are on the map.”
Ghezzi also guessed that other students would enjoy the book and the topics it covers. Though it didn’t quite blend with the classroom curriculum, Ghezzi came up with a way to incorporate its lessons into the students’ education by forming an after-school Humanitarian Club, geared toward exploring national and global issues - and doing something about them.
“Not all kids are into sports, performing arts or robotics, so having an after-school program with a social justice theme is great,” she said. “So many students, kids from Iraq and Afghanistan, are already immersed in these issues.”
Last fall, the club launched weekly, 2.5-hour meetings for 16 students in third through fifth grades. The sessions centered around a service-oriented curriculum devised by Ghezzi and ICS librarian Lori Steinerd that introduced themes such as geography, how children live around the world and famous humanitarians.
“I didn’t know if they’d want to read stories about what was going on in Detroit or if they’d care about the Dalai Lama, but it turned out they were interested in everything,” said Ghezzi. “We only used a fraction of the material planned. Whether we talked about the water crisis in Flint or the refugee crisis in Europe, the students were extremely engaged. It confirmed to me that kids are naturally curious and interested in the world around them and are hungry to know. And even kids in third grade handled anything I gave them.”
Both Steinerd and Ghezzi were aware that global issues often have disturbing aspects. “The topic of global peacemaking can have a dark underside,” said Steinerd. “So each meeting has some reflection time.”
The students put the lessons to work by making sandwiches for a homeless shelter, assembling writing kits for homeless and refugee people and planting mulberry and pear trees on the campus. The response from parents to these projects has been so positive that Steinerd and Ghezzi launched a version of the club for kids in kindergarten and first grade.
“We were inundated with requests, so we came up with somewhat lighter themes and a shorter time frame,” said Steinerd. “It’s something we’re going to continue after this year because the response has been so extraordinary. We know the kids are getting a lot out of it and becoming stewards of their world. That’s our school’s philosophy - to inspire global citizens - and this club addresses that while empowering students to make a difference on campus and in the larger community.”
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