NHS Students Take Up The Cause Of 10 Million Children

By Susan Coney

Three Newtown High School students — Emily Oliver, Annie Schneider, and Mike Ruocco — are committed to making a difference in the rights and welfare of children all over the world and have become actively involved in the Plan USA Program.

Plan is a global partnership of caring people founded in 1937 to bring hope and help to the world’s poorest children. Plan is one of the oldest and largest organizations of its kind. A grassroots, self-help program, Plan assists more than 10 million children and their families in poor communities around the world. Plan USA is just one of 60 countries that participate in the Plan program.

Annie and Emily, both staunch children’s rights advocates, became involved in Plan when NHS Latin American Studies teacher Jan Brookes raised their awareness when talking about children’s rights issues in her class. Both girls attend monthly Global Voice (a human right’s club) meetings with about 30 other teens from Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts to try to find ways to improve conditions for impoverished children worldwide.

In December of 2004, Plan USA sponsored the first youth conference entitled the Global Connections Youth Conference, a forum to share ideas, develop common agendas, and brainstorm strategies for problems that impact children in other countries. “We believe that Plan has the capacity and the responsibility to connect children and young people from around the world to allow them to learn from each other and to nurture their sense of global solidarity,” said Sam Worthington, executive director of Plan USA. By hosting the Global Connections Youth Conference every year, Plan USA hopes to advance children’s rights at the community, national, and international levels through a sharing of experiences and challenges in using art, media, and technology.

Thanks to NHS English teacher Cari Strand who acted as their chaperone, Emily and Annie were able to attend the first Global Connections Youth Conference, held in Massachusetts. The girls have been actively involved ever since. They also enlisted the help of their friend Mike Ruocco, who is an aspiring photojournalist, to become involved. Mike filled out an application, presented a portfolio of his work as a photographer and submitted letters of recommendations to be accepted into the program.

Mike and Emily will be traveling to Tororo, Uganda, on August 13 for a 15-day trip as part of a Plan USA program. Emily will interview the people in the villages of Uganda, while Mike will document the trip on video and through photographs. Mike’s only reservation about the trip is the unfamiliar foods that he may be trying. “I’m a vegan so I’m kind of worried I may not know what the food is that I am eating,” he said.

Emily and Mike will be working on making a virtual website of a village in Uganda so others can visit the website and become more informed. Emily said, “I’m excited about really absorbing the culture. Most American kids think that helping children in poor countries is hopeless so they don’t get involved. But things can change and we can have a positive influence like in Uganda where the AIDS rates have dropped tremendously due to the education provided.”

Emily went on to say that Plan USA gives teens who want to become involved in a global children’s rights movement the opportunity to make a difference. She said, “Kids from all over the world are making connections with one another. You begin to look past the stereotypes you’ve learned about other countries and learn about their cultures.”

Annie Schneider has already experienced an opportunity to visit with like-minded students from across the world when she traveled to the island of Utoya in Norway. This past May, while in Norway, Annie was part of a youth board that met with boards from other countries to discuss global issues and do team building activities. “I loved it! I didn’t want to come home. The people of Norway were very diverse, which surprised me because I had a certain idea in my head about how they would look. The people were all so friendly,” she said.

All three Newtown High School students are interested in learning about the diverse cultures of people from other regions of the world. They all share a commitment to raising awareness on a local as well as global level about human rights issues; finding ways to help make real and lasting changes in the lives of children all over the world.