The World as a Community: The World in Us
By: Viola Ciovati and Nevyn Parisa Haque
Who are we?
The World in Us is a student-led nonprofit seeking to eliminate cultural ignorance from its roots and cultivate the next generation of global citizens through youth-for-youth education.
Through our bite-sized, introductory lessons to global cultures for K-8 students, as well as our online platform for teen-centered intercultural dialogue, we plant the seed of global awareness in youth.
Our goal is to bring the wonders of the world into bright minds at an early age, thereby expanding children’s worldviews, preventing ignorance from taking root, and opening their eyes to the true beauty and diversity of cultures that exist.
Our Vision
The world is filled with cultural ignorance, some intentional and some not. The world is also ripe with a plethora of beautiful cultures. We want to change that narrative and make cultural education and awareness the norm for our next generation.
We envision a world where everyone is a culturally aware and competent global citizen who knows, cares and takes action about issues across cultural borders. Everyone deserves to feel safe practicing, sharing, and celebrating both their own and each other's cultures.
And yet, far too many kids still grow up in communities where they simply aren’t exposed to cultures outside their own and where they aren’t taught the cross-cultural communication skills that are so critical in the 21st century.
We educate the youth of today to become the culturally competent, aware, and empowered leaders of tomorrow.
The Beginnings
The World In Us started with a lesson about Chinese culture in October 2020.
Few students from 5th grade of Oregon, Albany with their proud and radiant smiles filled the Zoom screen, learned to introduce themselves in Mandarin and flaunted their handwritten characters.
However they did more than that.
They enhanced their capacity to understand and appreciate diverse perspectives. They opened their eyes (and ours too) to how beautiful it is to discover different cultures, languages and habits. They saw that at the end, we’re all parts of the same humanity.
That was the start of the blossom of The World In Us.
We are now an organization led by youth from all around the world. Though we represent many countries and many cultures, we are united in our passion for spreading cultural awareness and empowering youth to take autonomy over their education.
Current and Upcoming Programs
COMMUNITY-BUILDING INTERCULTURAL EXCHANGE PROGRAM, Summer 2023
The Community-Building Intercultural Exchange Program is a free, virtual exchange program for youth ages 14-18 across the world to engage in Languages Courses, Workshops on Global Issues and Civic Leadership, Professional Development Workshops and 1-on-1 Conversations with International Peers.
During this 5-week program, participants are immersed in the languages, histories, and practices of various international cultures through direct peer-to-peer dialogue while also building civic leadership and professional skills.
At the end of the program, participants will have built a strong foundation of lifelong cross-cultural empathy, friendship, and collaboration. They will also have developed a proposal for and be prepared to lead a globally relevant service project in your local community.
CULTURE COFFEE CHATS
The Coffee Culture Chats is a program that matches students from the globe to have discussions about their cultural perspectives, history, traditions and values. The students will be guided with different activities and conversations. At the end of the month, the students will have a project to complete to show their understanding of cultural understanding.
In this program, students from the ages of 14- 18 can participate virtually. It is conducted on a bi-monthly basis and each meeting will have a different cultural theme. The meetings are conducted on platforms that students are comfortable with.
The students will engage in at least one call with their culture partner. These calls will help the students gather information for their culminating project. For the culminating project, students have to highlight their culture partner’s culture or country. They can display the project using any medium (e.g. slideshow, one-pager, dish or craft). They will submit their project via Google form.
Past Programs
VIRTUAL CULTURAL DISCOVERY CAMP, December 2020
During the winter break of 2020, kids from 1st-5th grader who dreamt of traveling the world and becoming a polyglot joined TWIU for a completely free, virtual culture camp.
From December 27 to 3 January, participants were immersed in the languages, histories, and practices of various international cultures! They have created mini-passports, multicultural crafts, and presentations too!
Across the span of one week, students learned about 6 cultures from across the world (1 culture per day + 1 program introduction day + 1 program conclusion day). Learning for each culture was divided into a morning introductory lesson and a hands-on afternoon activity.
“My favorite parts of this camp were the parts where we cooked noodles and when we cooked moon cakes, which I especially loved. This was my favorite part because one they both ended up amazing, and two because both could have so many different ways of making. For example, I made moon cakes with pork and potatoes instead of bean paste, and those turned out great too!” - participant in Discovery Camp.
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY TALENTED & GIFTED PROGRAM: WINTER WONDERINGS, February 2021
Talented and Gifted (TAG) Programs is “needs-based” instructional programming which has offered winter/summer camps and programming to youth learners on the Oregon State University campus.
The World In Us as part of OSU’s Winter Wondering Program for TAG students, taught two 6-week courses Cultures of the World, and Pandas, Potstickers and Pinyin: Welcome to China, to 29 3rd-5th graders from across Oregon.
“This class was great. Our son was truly engaged with the subject matter, and he enjoyed being a part of a group of other young, interested learners…We would love for him to be able to take another class like this, and keep his interest in international cultures going!” - parent of student in OSU Talented and Gifted Class
BOYS & GIRLS CLUB: AROUND THE WORLD SUMMER CAMP, Summer 2021
During this weeklong camp conducted in August at the Boys and Girls Club of Albany, 24 incoming 3rd-5th graders learned about various world cultures through in-person activities, lessons, cooking and crafts.
INTERCULTURAL EXCHANGE PROGRAM, Summer 2021
This program took place for 4 weeks and it was for teenagers from the age of 14 to 18. Here the students got to know about different cultures through youth from different cultures. It has also helped them to delve deeper into their own cultural identity.
There have been many benefits for the students. For example, they have made lifelong friends without leaving their homes and they have spent their summer vacation in a productive way while making intercultural bonds. They expand their knowledge about different cultures by getting to know food from around the world, learning new languages, different ways of thinking, living etc. They got the chance to share about their own cultures as well. Through this, they have gained a better understanding of serious matters around the world.
This is a program that is held by The World In Us every year. It has gained many participants over the years and there have many positive acknowledgements about it from the participants.It is five weeks long. It is available for teenagers from 14 to 18. The program is conducted virtually through Zoom, Google Drive and Slack. There are 7 calls each week, 3 of which are required (two workshops and partner calls). The remaining 4 calls are recommended (these include culture coffee chat, foreign language class, professional development sessions and community call)
The two workshops are Global Issue workshop and Civic Leadership Workshop. The Global Issue Workshop talks about a global issue each week. The program directors talk about global issues through an interactive style. They also explain the tasks and the schedule to the participants.
“I really enjoyed this opportunity and would definitely do it again! It has gotten me even more interested in the diversity in the world and interested in doing an actual exchange in another country. It has made me want to explore cultures more, and learn more in general about other countries.” -Participant in Intercultural Exchange Program
Cultural Connections Writing Competition 2022
“What does culture mean to you?”, “What does culture mean in today’s world?”, “How do you connect with your culture?” “What was the time you connected with another culture?” and "Why do culture and cultural connections matter?” are some questions explored by participants of Cultural Connections Writing Competition.
The theme of the writing competition was cultural connections and 125 submissions from 15 countries challenged themself to elaborate a writing production which spread their uniqueness.
Through this, we got to know how young people from around the world are envisioning themselves and their cultures and the future of global connections and intercultural relations
Because The World in Us believes that with every story you share, you are bridging a gap, crossing cultures, and changing the world.
The World in Us is run by youth volunteers from across the world. Passionate, globally-minded high school and college students can apply to join our general team on a rolling basis.
If you are interested in making your voice heard, listening to the voices of others, and cultivating the inclusive global community we need and deserve, come and meet us! You can help with
Social Media: In order to reach out to the world we need accurate instruments such as the website, instagram, facebook, linkedin. For this reason, you can help the mission by designing posts and advertisements.
Blog: Are you passionate about writing? Would you like to write articles about different and various cultural topics? Then, the team of the blog is waiting for you! Writing articles won’t be just a moment of internet research, but a time spent discussing and sharing with other young mind about cultural topics
Podcast: Is there something better than listening to a podcast? Yes, listening to a podcast about culture! The World In Us offers you the chance to interview, invite people, and have debates regarding cultural and worldly topics.
Coffee-chats
Organizing programs
Website: https://www.theworldinus.org/
Instagram: the_world_in_us
Facebook: the.world.in.us.org
Linkedin: TheWorldInUs
Email: theworldinus.org@gmail.com
