Middle Schoolers Tackle International Emergency Response
2/24/2010
As part of the Middle School’s relief efforts in Haiti, the Middle School was fortunate to receive a second visit on February 19 from Global Concerns Classroom, the United States arm of Concern Worldwide Classroom, a highly successful development education program in Ireland. The program visits schools, raising awareness of humanitarian issues worldwide and hopes to foster future generations of global leaders.
Concern Worldwide, Global Concern's parent organization, is an international charity dedicated to the reduction of suffering. Their goal is to eliminate extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.
At the behest of the Middle School Student Senate, members of Global Concerns developed a “Day of Concern” at Poly, beginning with an Emergency Response Presentation at 9:00 AM in the Richard Perry Theatre.
Middle School Senate President Dylan Wrobel ‘14 first introduced Susan Finucane, a Program Officer for Concern Worldwide, who presented on Concern’s international work in Haiti since the earthquake. “Lets try to keep our hearts and minds open today so we can learn what we could do to help Haiti and take action,” Wrobel urged his peers.
“Concern operates in 28 of the world’s least developed countries,” explained Finucane. “Initially, we went into Haiti in 1994, as emergency responders after an earthquake, but we ended up staying because we found the need was so great.”
Finucane noted that many people have commented on the political and social progress Haiti has made in recent years. “It’s true,” she said. “There was certainly an evolving middle class and a lot of progress had been made, but it’s all been wiped out by the unimaginable devastation of the earthquake. Unimaginable but very real,” Finucane furthered. (See this week’s Pulse profile of alumni Dr. Michael Vitale’s Haiti relief work to learn more about why Haiti’s recent economic progress paradoxically may have contributed to earthquake deaths.)
While Concern’s Emergency Program in Haiti has involved many different activities, they have prioritized access to clean water and education. During a slideshow, Finucane showed the various ways Concern is able to provide clean water to Haitians, which is “vital after such a crisis.”
As a video footage played across the screen onstage, Finucane and the organization’s Operations Director, Dominic MacSorley noted, “Haiti has faced tough times before, but this is their biggest challenge and they will overcome it.”
At the end of her presentation, Finucane briefly answered student questions. When one student asked if Haiti would ever be the same, Finucane replied, “It will take a long time for Haiti to recover, and there is a lot of work to do. I don’t think Haiti will rebuild to what it was before because it’s on a different path now—and can be even better.”
Next, Education Officer Sylvia Wong talked about the day’s emergency response workshops and reviewed the different activities that were going to take place for each grade. “Each group will receive a theoretical $3 million to create their own Emergency Response Plan for a particular country and crisis,” said Wong. Students then returned to their homerooms to get started. “Your goal is to choose a role for your team—as community leaders, governmental representatives, or NGO-representatives—and craft an crisis response and a budget.”
Each team would then craft a presentation—visual, written, or performed—and compete before a panel of faculty judges. Excited students then received folders with information about the country and the challenges they faced.
In the day’s program, Global Concerns noted that, “Effective emergency response can save lives and also protect people’s livelihoods. Emergency response is not only about responding to the immediate needs of the victims, but also to create communities’ coping mechanisms and reduce the damage caused by future emergencies.”
The day’s stimulating, hands-on workshop took learning far beyond the classroom by enabling students “the opportunity to imagine that they live in a country where disaster strikes and develop strategic plans to prevent catastrophe.”
Once in their homerooms, students broke up into their advisories and worked hard throughout the morning—grouped on classroom floors in small circles— defining their roles, researching their country, and ultimately making decisions on how to best allocate $3 million to combat their assigned emergency situation. Groups then created posters and planned presentations .
In the afternoon, each group had 5 minutes to present their work. Adding a bit of the competitive spirit, the Global Summit Committee (consisting of teachers and members of Global Concerns’ team) judged the presentations.
The Pulse was thankful to be part of such an educational and moving day. For a photo gallery, click here.