Students Say

“The World Affairs Challenge helps students understand the world they live in and its problems. I understand more about conflicts and solutions.”
—Alicia H., middle school student

“Before the World Affairs Challenge, I did not pay close attention to the affairs of the world. This organization helps students to understand the world they live in, and its problems. I have come to understand more about conflicts and solutions. We’ll understand so much by the time we’re adults, that we will have great knowledge of the world!”
—Anonymous student

A Short Essay by Sam B.
People say, "Children are the future." Looking around, I can get pretty worried about tomorrow. I'm in the eighth grade, and I'm not too sure I like getting elected as "the future." It's kind of scary. It's even harder becoming "the future" when I don't know about the present. That's where the World Affairs Challenge came in.
The Challenge is a program for kids that focuses on understanding and solving the problems of current world issues. Each year, an overarching theme is chosen, and then individual teams chose a subtopic to research, brainstorm, and present solutions to in the form of skits. But I don't think the topic matters as much to me, because what I truly got from the The Challenge was that you don't need to be a grown-up to understand what's going on, and you don't need to be a genius to change it.
After this year's competition was over (our team received first place overall), a few of us decided to keep speaking out in the world. We now participate in bulletin boards on the New York Times and other web sites anonymously. We've found that, as long as one is well informed, people will listen. The age of technology has given kids the power to be heard. Look out, world: the future is coming!