Global Kids' Online Leadership Program

Day Two: A Full & Fun Day at NSLC
Oh, did I mention almost EVERY intersection of each street has a singing box? (Yes, quite literally.) They also have a lot of “honkytonks” here. Another thing I noticed were the open friendliness of locals. In New York, the cab driver is as quiet as a pin. In Nashville, the people force awkward conversation upon you, even if you give one-word answers. Anyway, the actual conference was amazing. Although the my amazingly comfy hotel bed had me distracted during morning plenary session, I still paid attention. After, we had workshop sessions. They were awesome! My favorite one was about the divide between funding for private schools, middle-class schools, and under- funded ones. The facilitator had us divided into three groups. I was in the under-funded one. We got trash thrown at us, were enclosed in an ever-closing square and crammed, had one textbook, mean teachers, and a test with questions like “what was the population of Russia in 1921?” The middle class was better than us. The private schools got a flat screen TV, video games, food, laptops, and all that good stuff. After, we learned that the facts about the funding divide. One thing I found interesting was that in Washington state, there’s a school that’s so under-funded that they have to regulate their usage of toilet and paper towels.

Day Three: Presenting Global Kids at NSLC
It’s my last night here; I’m absolutely exhausted but I think it’s worth it. I’d rather be here than sleeping in my Chemistry class anyway. The thought of going back to New York’s 30 degree just makes it worse! Anyway, we facilitated our workshops today. For me, it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought it’d be. Shawna talked most of the time, which most definitely helped. One thing I learned about facilitating is that you shouldn’t read directly off the paper, because not only will participants not understand you but it just shows how you’re not comfortable speaking. I rephrased the question, based on what they said. The workshops were long and tiring but the experience was worth it at the end. I also noticed that if I cracked jokes, laughed, and smiled a little, the people paid more attention and didn’t text under the tables as much. I liked facilitating, and hopefully I’ll do it more. There was really no need to be so nervous, because the people didn’t know anything about the topic – but I did! One of my favorite parts of Nashville was this AT&T building that looked exactly like the one in Batman. It was awesome! I’m sad to leave my intersection-singing, Starbucks-at-every-corner, and over-friendly-locals city!