This year, the Peace Makers and Problem Solvers - PMPS program celebrated another successful cycle of youth leadership and community engagement. Students from two U.S. schools—Poolesville High School in Maryland and St. Edmund’s School in Pennsylvania—collaborated with their peers from Diocesano Laura Montoya School in Chigorodó and La Provincia School in Carepa, both located in the Urabá region of Colombia.
Over 40 students and five teachers, representing rural and urban areas in both countries, participated in five virtual exchange calls. These sessions provided a platform for participants to:
Connect with international peers and share cultural insights.
Learn about the challenges and resources within each community.
Collaborate on initiatives addressing local issues.
The program fostered leadership qualities and strengthened the participants’ ability to create meaningful, positive changes in their communities.
Colombian Initiatives: Projects for Community Development
In Colombia, students developed two impactful projects aimed at addressing pressing issues in their school communities:
"Co-Creating Our Future" – Tackling Dropout Rates and Inspiring Careers
At La Provincia School, eight students, under the guidance of teacher Liliana Palacios, created a project to combat high school dropout rates and inspire academic engagement.
The project aimed to offer extracurricular workshops for students in grades 6 to 11, helping them explore their passions and discover sustainable career paths through courses designed to uncover their talents and create a welcoming school environment. This initiative aspires to transform the school into an engaging and supportive space, motivating students to invest in their futures.
"The Room of Emotions" – Promoting Emotional Well-being
At Diocesano Laura Montoya School, eight students, with teachers John Zambrano and Jhonier Rivas, revamped a socio-emotional project to address academic stress and foster emotional well-being by creating a space where students can manage their emotions, build healthy relationships, and strengthen peer support networks.
Students developed and led four workshops to help peers understand and moderate their emotions oriented to 6th to 7th grade:
How Do I Feel and Why?
Experiences That Have Made Me Feel
How I React to Different Emotions
Applying What I’ve Learned
The workshops focused on self-awareness and emotional regulation, empowering participants to navigate personal and academic challenges effectively.
U.S. Initiatives: Projects in Progress
In the United States, students are working on various community projects that are set to conclude in the spring. These initiatives aim to address unique local needs and continue the tradition of making meaningful contributions to society.
Poolesville High School is addressing pollution from local storm drains that endangers nearby ecosystems and bays. To combat this, students are accurately labeling drains to encourage correct waste disposal and decrease littering, thereby promoting environmental stewardship and safeguarding waterways for future generations.
St. Edmund's School is keen on contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals
and being part of the solution to improve local issues. Seventh graders are divided into smaller groups, choosing issues they are passionate about and determining the best initiatives to address them. They are researching, learning, and taking action.
The Peace Makers and Problem Solvers program has once again demonstrated the power of cross-cultural collaboration in fostering leadership, empathy, and community-driven solutions. Through these projects, students not only learned about the challenges facing their global peers but also contributed to making their own communities better places to live and grow.
Stay tuned as these initiatives continue to unfold and inspire positive change in 2025!
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