Becoming global citizens through Connecting Classrooms

Bradley Miranda is a participant of UNICEF’s Connecting Classrooms program at the Harry S. Truman High school.

Hello, my name is Bradley and I am a senior at Harry S. Truman High school. I am part of Connecting Classrooms in my African Studies class. The Connecting Classrooms program was designed by UNICEF for students all over the world to learn about each other and to learn about life in places they may have never even heard of. Students go through a curriculum designed by the U.S. Fund for UNICEF to help them write about topics around issues in their communities and post about them on an internet platform. I think it’s a great way to learn from other people my age that I otherwise wouldn’t be able to talk to. Through Connecting Classrooms I have learned that many people have misconceptions about Africa and other communities that with a little education can be corrected.

Bradley Miranda at the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

My favorite part of the program is being able to read all of the great things that students my age are doing in their communities, and then being able to comment or ask them about it. One post that really struck me was about students in Kenya working hard to succeed academically and go to top colleges. Thinking about the low graduation rate at my school, I was interested to learn how the Kenyan students were motivating themselves and to see how youth in my community could benefit from their methods.

I was also able to give feedback about the Connecting Classrooms program to the U.S. Fund’s Education team, so together we can make the program stronger. I even got to be a part of  a TeachUNICEF’s promotional video (coming soon!). This experience has been amazing and eye opening not just as a student but as a global citizen.