Last week I blogged about Key Club members coming to New York. This week, I’d like to tell you about another four high school students in California who are getting ready for an amazing opportunity.
As background, Avani, Jamie, Magnone, and Mathais, from Amador Valley High School, formed a team last winter called Volens et Potens (from the Latin phrase meaning "willing and able") and submitted the winning essay in the J8 essay contest. (You might have seen the announcement of the contest earlier this year on this blog.)
Team Volens et Potens put forward their ideas on solutions for the topics discussed by the G8 this year: global warming and climate change, poverty, development and child survival, infectious diseases and HIV/AIDS. The winning team will be headed this July to the Junior 8 Summit in Hokkaido Japan, a 7-day event involving representatives from each G8 country and youth from countries where UNICEF works.
In April, the four students and their teacher came to New York for a day of training and briefing. This weekend, U.S. Fund for UNICEF representatives will be traveling to California to give supplementary updates, discuss logistics of the trip, and continue their in-depth study of the topics so that the team is ready to meet with their peers and participate fully in the summit.
At the summit, representatives from each country will have the opportunity to meet with world leaders to share their thoughts on what youth think are the solutions to the topics, and also meet with the first wives and other dignitaries. Participation in the summit is a very exciting opportunity not only for Volens et Potens but also for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF!
Stay tuned for blog updates from the summit, which is July 2-9. And, ask the people you know in high school to enter the essay contest next year!