Recap: Community-Building Intercultural Exchange Program 2024

Our annual Community-Building Intercultural Exchange Program (CIEP) is a 5 week virtual program for students aged 14-18.

This year, once again, the CIEP reached a bright group of youth and helped them developing  themselves as global citizens and leaders through Civic Leadership Workshops, Sustainable Development

Goal Workshops (SDG), Professional Development Workshops, Language Classes and Cultural Peers Chats!

Civic Leadership Workshops

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Civic Leadership Workshops 〰️

In our weekly Civic Leadership Workshops, participants learned how to identify a community issue, ideate an actionable solution, create a project management, the meaning of team building, communication and fundraising, and ensure its longevity.

“I had such an amazing session. Thanks a lot for the ideas, they are definitely gonna be so helpful in my project.” 

                                                                                         — Mmesoma.O, participant

Sustainable Development Goal Workshops

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Sustainable Development Goal Workshops #

Sunday was the day of SDG Workshops: participants had the chance  to learn about SDG-aligned global issues and possible ways to eliminate or halt their negative effects. This year, 5 of the SDG-related topics into discussion were: Culture, Immigration, Metal Health, Youth Political Engagement, and Environment.

“The 2nd SDG workshop was really great today, it was fun and interactive, I really enjoyed it! ” 

— Ogooluwa.I, participant

Professional Development Workshops

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Professional Development Workshops 〰️

Also this year, extremely talented and dedicated organizations and individuals joined our Professional Development Workshops in order to broaden our participants' vision and equip them with tools to bring the positive in the world they are passionate about.

We were first joined by the Thirst Project, a non-for-profit organization that works with young people to end the global water crisis by building freshwater wells in developing communities that need safe, clean drinking water. Participants had the chance to learn more about the Global Water Crisis and how to take action.

“It was a really inspiring and motivating session. Youth never fail to amaze all”  

—Jasmine.A, participant

Keeping up with the momentum in the second week, URounded, a student-led organization providing free, accessible education to all alongside professional development for inquisitive students, provided an incredible college mentoring workshop for CIEP participants.

“Just finished the US college admission session. It was very informative to me as far as I am gonna apply to colleges this year. Thank you for everything:)”

—Narges, participant.

As the program got into its third week, we were accompanied by Legacy Youth Leadership, a not-for-profit that develops, mentors, and equip young people with the skills they need to reach their academic goals, make a real impact on the world around them, and thrive. Participants got a wonderful opportunity to learn how to use their time, their money, their voice, and their vote so they can be leaders today.

Week four consisted of Dr. Aneeqa Aslam’s in-depth and easy to comprehend workshop on Palestine-Israel Issue where she discussed its history, present-situation, and possible paths to peace. Along with being a practicing dentist, Dr. Aneeqa is passionate about discussing historical events and standing for human rights, which made her a wonderful speaker on the topic discussed. 

“The session with Dr. Aslam was very informative and I learned a lot about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Also, the workshop session was quite impressionable.”    

— Janet.A, participant.

Cultural Coffee Chats and Community Calls

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Cultural Coffee Chats and Community Calls 〰️

Along with acquiring real world tools of change, our young leaders collected pearls of life-long friendship from around the world through cultural coffee chats and community calls. Each participant was paired up with another participant from a different cultural background to have friendly discussions about topics being discussed during the program, or about life in general (hobbies, life-style, studies, food etc.)! Additionally, we have organized amazing community calls in which everyone joined and had healthy discussions or played fun games.

Language Classes: Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, Tagalog

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Language Classes: Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, Tagalog #

Additionally, we offered various beginner level languages classes to participants from which they could opt for Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Italian or Tagalog. This not only made the overall program more engaging but also enabled participants to learn the culture and get language’s tips from a native speaker! 

Italian Class!

Potluck Ceremony

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Potluck Ceremony 〰️

As the program moved towards its conclusion, we switched seats with our participants, and let them take the stage as they prepared and presented presentations on their relative cultures to their peers in the Potluck celebration call.

“The potluck was amazing :D. Lovely presentations were showcased. Thank you  for making it really interactive :D”

— Mmesoma.O, participant.

Community Service Project

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Community Service Project #

To conclude the program, students submitted two final projects; one community service project, and one creative project. By using their former and new learned skills, participants proposed a community service project which was based on a solution to a problem they identified in their surroundings. Among all the submitted projects, two projects stood out and were awarded with a prize of $150 each to use for the realization of their project; “Music as Medicine” by Yasmeen A. and “No Elder Left Alone” by Raelyn Y.

“… I am deeply honored to receive this award. I have dedicated myself to making the most of this program and contributing effectively, and I am thrilled to see the results of my efforts! Thank you for providing me with this award, which will be invaluable in launching my initiative…”

                                                     — Yasmeen.A, Global Scholar Award Winner, CIEP 2024

“I am extremely grateful to have been given this award. Moving forward, I hope to make a great and lasting impact on all the elders in my society, while simultaneously bridging the gap between the old and the young. Thank you, TWIU, once again for this amazing opportunity.”

— Raelyn.Y, Global Scholar Award Winner, CIEP 2024