Global Kids' Online Leadership Program

Below is the video from Global Kids two week celebration in March of 2007 observing our year anniversary in Second Life.

Post and read comments on YouTube.

Posted by Barry at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

TSL resident Nic385 created a simple answering machine for us on GK Island, so teens could leave us one line messages. Here are a few we received during the recent birthday celebration:

Kirbit Allen said, 'THANKS FOR GLOBKIDS!!!'
Jay Clostermann said, 'Global Kids Rocks!'
Killer Mills said, 'why is there a random turkey here?'
Moose Crossair said, 'Hiya. I’m showing Olivia Gray that its ok and its not gonna hurt her to leave a message'
Olivia Gray said, 'Recording machines scare me cause they are scary....and they growl.'
Ivan Ortega said, 'happy birthday, one year guys keep it up! wt!!!'
Gompy Zapedzki said, 'Hi i think that you are awesome.com'
Markus Vanbeeck said, 'I think this is quite a place... a little more people, and it would be perfect!'
Kinzie Lutetia said, 'hi. just asking if u think pie is good'
Master Sakai said, 'this place is awsome when's the party though?'
Rihanna Vanalten said, 'i like fish head...NOT'
Issabella Sanders said, 'Your Awesome Barry Keep Up The Good work ~Your Friend issabella sanders~'
Angelo Apps said, 'Gkid!! Happy Birthday... Cant say enough to let yall know how appreciative i am of you guys... Peace out...'
Cuteboy Dix said, 'I like ya place very supporting'
Paco Rahja said, 'No soup for you!'
jayco Bing said, 'This place rules!'
Zack Voom said, 'GK IS AWESOME! YAY! HAPPY ONE YEAR BDAY GK!!'

Posted by Barry at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Friday was an interesting day. People went to the global conference but what I got to do was film the event!

So much fun handling that...beautiful...expensive...very expensive camera. It was amazing, the camera had depth of field focus and all sorts of beautiful features not available to me on my little camcorder. The Depth of field was what really amazed me its the one thing camcorders lack that I want so bad.

But now about the conference. It was a really exciting event. The performances were so powerful. My personal favorite was Queen God Is and what she said. I thought it was very passionate and powerful.

It was a joy to be there and aid in the filming of the event. Nice job GK!

Posted by VVP Idan at 4:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The final event of our two week festivities celebrating the start of GK's second year in TSL was a day long youth conference, streamed live from New York City.

The Global Kids annual conference is always one of the highlights of the year - an all-day affair led by Global Kids youth leaders for over 600 teens. The topic this year was global environmental concerns.

We streamed the event into both Global Kids Island and, with the help of the NMC, to educators on the main grid as well. This was our first time handling every aspect of a live video feed into TSL on our own, and it went really smooth. We even had one of our youth leaders from the machinima program, Idan, run the camera all day. We were very pleased.

Below are some photos and the schedule for the day.

Continue reading "[sl] Global Kids annual youth conference in Second Life
" »

Posted by Barry at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

UNICEF posted to their site a great write up on the Global Kids conference and various workshops held. Read the full text below or view it here.

At Global Kids Conference, high school students debate environmental issues UNICEF Image

© UNICEF USA/2007/Gallegos

A participant at the 2007 Global Kids Annual Conference in New York takes notes during a workshop on water.

By Rachel Bonham Carter

NEW YORK, USA, 26 March 2007 – Six hundred teenagers gathered in New York on Friday to debate environmental issues at the 2007 Global Kids Annual Conference entitled, ‘Do you know where your environment is?’ While experts from UNICEF and other organizations helped to guide discussions, the event was entirely youth-organized and youth-led. 

“The opportunity for a young person to go to a conference that is completely run by and for youth can be a transformative experience,” said Global Kids Online Leadership Programme Director Barry Joseph. “It shows them the possibilities of what can happen when youth are given the resources and are supported to be in charge and make a difference.”

The day was split between group workshops in the morning, which focused on ‘indicators for a healthy, sustainable environment’, and separate sessions in the afternoon, which covered a variety of issues, including:

• The impact of war on the environment
• Environmental justice
• Global warming and climate change
• Food, water, children’s rights and the environment.

Global Kids

The 2007 Global Kids Annual Conference was streamed live in the virtual online world, Second Life.

Online in Second Life

“I was very impressed with the young facilitators,” said UNICEF Programme Advisor Donna Goodman, who spoke at the workshop on water. “The kids were very well prepared and well-informed. The value of working with kids in industrialized countries is to raise awareness.

“The water cycle on this planet is all connected so the more kids that know how they can support each other and connect to kids around the world, the better. Youth advocacy is really the key to meeting the Millennium Development Goals,” added Ms. Goodman.

Students from over 50 public schools and youth organizations took part in the conference at the New School in Manhattan. It was also streamed live online in the virtual world Second Life, where it reached young people and educators around the world. The aim was to help young people examine local and global perspectives on critical environmental issues and potential solutions.

UNICEF Voices of Youth member Mariel, who is from Mexico, took part in various events in Teen Second Life last week in the build-up to the conference. She helped to raise awareness of the event by facilitating online discussions amongst youth and by hosting tours of the virtual buildings created in Teen Second Life during the UNICEF World Fit For Children contest, which was held in December 2006.

Posted by joyce at 1:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As part of the two weeks celebrating GK's one year anniversary in Second Life, Ryan Dayton built not one, not two, but three birthday cards for over 220 teens to sign.

Thank you all for taking the time to drop by and adding your name to the card! We look forward to our next birthday. With this year's volcanic eruptions, birthday cake making contests, live audio and video panels and more... I can't wait to see what we do together next year!

Birthday card 1 of 3

Birthday card 2 of 3

Birthday card 3 of 3

Posted by tabitha at 4:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hiya! I'm nik385 Doesburg, a GK Intern. Global Kids interns host events monthly on Global Kids Islands.

This month, as party of their birthday party, I hosted parties on the thirteenth and the twenty second. I had a lot of fun running the music stream as a DJ, and hosting a few games of hud-Bitris. People seem to like to dance on things a lot.

I learned a few things though. I need to advertise my events better, as at the second party there was a very low attendance, because it was not following a large event, and I hadn't advertised.

I had a free music download system running that allowed me to download requests as long as they weren't inappropriate. After the first party we played hud-bitris.

At the second party Rafi got "Ruthed" which is when an avatar reverts to the default avatar shape, but keeps it's skin and clothing.

We had a lot of fun at both, and I had fun hosting them and look forward to hosting events again soon. I had some trouble getting images on the Global Kids image stream, so I had to use a backup account. Hopefully, by next time, I will have everything working properly.

nik385 out.

Posted by Nik - SL Intern at 2:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After much anticipation, the melting glacier of NOAA main grid fame has arrived on GK island. We held an event on Tuesday located there, engaged in some great discussion about what NOAA is, why sea levels rise, and what it all means for the world. It was followed by an incredible debate, GK style of course (involving flying!), during which the teens showed us just how much they knew and how passionate they are about environmental issues.

Check out this great post by Kate, one of the educators that works with GK on our island:

Global Kids do Global Warming

This week is Global Kids' first birthday in Teen Second Life, which surprised me as I thought they had been around for a lot longer. To celebrate they have been running special events. Last night we saw the trademark GK volcano erupt, and this evening we were treated to an interactive glacier that shows how the sea levels rise as the glaciers melt. It was a fantastic session, with Rafi (one of the adult members of staff) asking interesting and challenging questions.

For the second part of the event, platforms appeared, one central one, and three others with textures that said either 'agree', 'disagree' or 'not sure'. Rafi said out a statement and the rest of us had to stand on the platform that fitted how we felt. We had to be prepared to defend our position too.

Continue reading "[sl] NOAA Glacier arrives on GK, sparks debate about global warming" »

Posted by Rafi Santo at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

From March 12 - 16, 2007, 15 residents in Teen Second Life competed in the first annual Birthday Cake Making Contest on Global Kids Island, organized by teen resident Jay Clostermann. Each day teens worked on their cakes and invited their friends from all over the world to come and check out the event. Visitors were asked to examine the cakes and to vote for their favorite one.

On Friday, March 16, 2007, Tabitha Gkid along with 25+ residents announced the winners of the contest followed by a brief discussion on the event.

Continue reading "[sl] Birthday Cake Contest Winners!" »

Posted by tabitha at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello! Let me introduce myself. I am Jay Clostermann. I am an active Global Kids volunteer in the world of Teen Second Life. The past few weeks have been quite fun, as I have been volunteering in the Global Kids 1 year anniversary in Teen Second Life. There have been cake baking contests, debates, scavenger hunts, a new island and much much more! I am hoping to write a post at the end of the celebration about all the fun, so stay tuned to Holy Meatballs!

I have been mostly volunteering, and managing the GK Cake Making Contest. We had a lot of fun, and a lot of participants! (Don’t forget also the delicious cake eating!) I will display these cakes in alphabetical order of the creator.

Continue reading "[sl/teen] GK Birthday Cake Making Contest" »

Posted by Jay - SL Intern at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)