“The future belongs to the youth. Why not empower students to help us find solutions to these global issues?” In 2002, Jean-François Rischard published High Noon: Twenty Global Problems, Twenty Years to Solve Them in which he addressed issues, such as water shortages, global warming, and infectious diseases, that can only be solved through global cooperation, such as water shortages, global warming, and infectious diseases. He encouraged the idea of “global issue networks” that would accommodate and respond promptly to any changes in our world. His words struck a chord with a group of students and teachers. A year after his book was published, a group of students and teachers were inspired to incorporate Rischard’s ideas by creating an environment in which international schools from all over the world could collaborate.

On November 8, 2011, the six founding Sacred Heart members of the inaugural GIN club hopped on a plane to Singapore where the GIN conference would be taking place. Over the next  five days, the students were exposed to a broad range of global issues and even had the opportunity to listen to guest speakers like Rob Dyer, founder of Skate4Cancer, and John Wood, founder of Room to Read. Upon returning to school, the students spread the word by presenting about their experiences in front of each homeroom. They also founded the GIN club so that the whole middle school could become more aware and involved in finding solutions to some of the world’s most difficult problems.

Four years later, the club has been split into two sub-clubs and has reached a total of 52 members. When asked about what sparked the growth in the number of members, Mr. Gray, the club’s sponsor, said, “I would attribute the reason for the growth to the projects and results coming out of the club. Over the years, the club’s name has been spreading throughout the middle school thanks to the various projects we have going on and students are trying to get involved with what we do.”

This year, the club hopes to look at 10 out of the 20 global issues that GIN focuses on. The first step will be educating themselves on the significance of the issue. From there, they intend to take action through free dress days, discussions, and announcements or through bigger projects that have been done in the past like organizing a toy drive during the holidays or hosting a hunger banquet. Since the club has just started to network outside of our school, members hope to develop connected relationships with GIN clubs all over the world.