Courtney Spence, Founder of Students of the World (SOW), was awarded a YouthActionNet Fellowship in 2004. Through Students of the World, teams of college students spend four weeks immersing themselves in an international community. Through producing documentary films, photography and art exhibitions, policy studies, and newspaper and magazine articles, SOW participants inspire Americans toward global understanding and activism.

1) What was the impact of your YouthActionNet workshop experience?

The YouthActionNet conference hit me at a pivotal moment – professionally and personally. I not only have fond memories, but it was almost a spiritual experience. I had a renewed faith in the world. I remember writing people at home and telling stories about it – that you could bring together twenty young people who had never met and create a really magical experience. It was invigorating to be with them and to become more aware of the larger global community. I came back inspired to push forward with Students of the World. The next summer I worked with three YouthActionNet winners –
in Kenya, China, and Cambodia – sending SOW teams to these countries.

2) How has Students of the World evolved since 2004?

We were working in three universities then. Now, we’re working with six. Last year, we had teams in Mexico, Israel, Ethiopia, Brazil, and India. While in the initial stages we were working with nonprofits in local communities, now we look to partner with one nonprofit in a country. Visiting teams provide that nonprofit with multi-media – a video, photographs, articles – that they can use for promotion. It’s their way of giving back to the organization. In addition, teams produce documentaries directly related to their experience that enable them to delve deeply into an issue or story. These documentary works are then shown on campuses and public venues to raise awareness of global issues and challenges.

3) What about your approach do you feel is most compelling?

Each team produces a short film introducing a local challenge, the people in the community, and the progress that’s been made. It’s become all the more important for us to be the storytellers of solutions on the ground. We hear all these paralyzing messages about war and poverty and disease. We want to tell stories about people who are doing good, who are chipping away at these issues, and making people realize that this is a problem, but it’s not insurmountable.

4) How have you been collaborating with the Clinton Global Initiative?

We were looking to identify an international hub of NGOs we could work with and CGI [the Clinton Global Initiative] came up. I put together a proposal and set up an initial meeting outlining what their member organizations might be able to do in collaboration.

As a first step, CGI was interested in having documentaries to play at its fall event. Each of our 2006 teams had produced a four to five minute film. The films were shown in the reception area of the CGI three-day conference in September. We produced a DVD that went into every member’s gift bag.

5) What is your vision for Students of the World?

In the early years, we had the goal of seeing SOW become the Peace Corps of this generation. Eventually, I’d like to see it at fifty universities. We’d like to see more American youth doing this work because of the prevalence of media in our lives. It’s the communication tool.

For further information and to view samples of SOW documentary work, please visit: www.studentsoftheworld.org

If you are a YouthActionNet™ Fellow and you want to share your story in a future edition of the NetworkNews, email Caroline Esclapez at caroline@iyfnet.org