“Opportunities like Global Scholars are so important because not only does GSD teach students skills like how to work with other people to accomplish a goal, how to contact and work with organizations outside of the school setting and how to organize a major project, but it also opens their own thinking,” said Amy Obhof, world history teacher at Licking Heights High School and the district’s on-campus advisor for the program. “We say in the program that we ‘Connect Globally, Act Locally.’ Students learn all about what is happening all over the world and how that impacts us here in central Ohio.”
Most students chose to complete projects that positively impacted the district, like improving literacy, spreading positivity at the high school and protecting the environment. This was the biggest class of Global Scholars the district has ever had. Participants and projects included:
- Salina Chimoriya, “The Little Things.” To promote healthy mental health habits, Chimoriya created a positivity board with encouraging messages from peers for the high school.
- Diya Gautam, “Literacy for Youth.” Gautam returned to her former elementary school, Everest Elementary, to work with a classroom of students learning to read.
- Marissa Green, “Post-a-Compliment.” Green created a board where students could leave compliments and kind words for the teachers and staff members at the high school.
- Bobbi Koontz, “How is Styrofoam Changing the World?” Koontz investigated sustainable alternatives to styrofoam trays in Licking Heights cafeterias.
- Prashna Poudyel, “Open Books, Open Minds.” Poudyel created a comprehensive literacy enrichment plan for an elementary classroom, including reading to the whole class, working with small groups and coordinating a book drive.
- Yankila Sherpa, “Speak and Succeed.” Sherpa worked with groups of students learning to read at the elementary school by giving them a space to practice reading.
- River Wells, “Queer Queries.” Wells created a podcast series with a transgender man, exploring the process and social experiences of transgender people.
- Lely Yadessa, “Nutrition for Kids.” Yadessa worked with a preschool in nearby Reynoldsburg to create lessons about healthy eating and early nutrition interventions.
Obhof emphasized the transformative journey students experience through the program. “The best part of working with our Global Scholars is seeing their tremendous growth over the course of the three years of the program,” she said. “They go from shy underclassmen to confident young adults who have learned that they have the power to take on the world.”
In addition to their individual projects, students gained invaluable life skills. “I hope that students have learned confidence in themselves,” Obhof explained. “That they are capable of doing anything and achieving any goal that they set for themselves. The program is so much more than the academic content and the issues themselves.”
Global Scholars participants are even eligible to earn scholarships through the Columbus Council of World Affairs and a $19,000 renewable scholarship at Otterbein University. Obhof expressed immense pride in this year’s graduates, stating, “I am so very proud of our GSD graduates who are part of the 10th Global Scholars graduating class!”
Information submitted by Licking Heights Local Schools.
