We connected with Suzie Vo, a Global Minds Fellow in Pennsylvania. Read on to learn about Global Minds and Suzie’s experience!
My journey with Global Minds started in November of 2019 when my friend Hanna and I started a chapter at my high school in rural Pennsylvania. After first hearing about Global Minds through a childhood friend in Pittsburgh, I felt a spark of inspiration about how the program could enrich the community in my school.
Global Minds is a for-youth, by-youth program that fosters diversity and inclusion within schools. The program began in Pittsburgh five years ago and has since grown to span across North America as a leading program of the World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh. Global Minds connects Native English Speaking and Emerging Multilingual Learners through activities centered around social and emotional learning, cultural humility, and social justice, in order to create more globally minded young leaders. Through a curriculum of activities and discussion topics, Global Minds chapters are encouraged to engage in meaningful conversations about global issues to expand their worldviews while also building cross-cultural relationships within their groups.
As a person with a multicultural background, Global Minds is an extremely meaningful part of my life because it allows me to connect with other people of diverse lived experiences and create an inclusive, welcoming space within my community. Throughout my three years in Global Minds, I have deeply enjoyed expanding my worldview through our group activities and discussions.
Last year, my Global Minds chapter did an activity about implicit biases. The activity began with all of us taking quizzes on Harvard’s Project Implicit website to discover some of the biased beliefs that we each held. The results from these quizzes sparked an eye-opening and thought-provoking group conversation about our personal biases and the practices that we, as individuals, could use to ensure that we recognize those biases and do not act upon them. This activity is one of many instances in which my participation in Global Minds has encouraged me to be more open-minded and accepting—not only toward those around me, but also toward myself.
In my role as the Global Minds Youth Fellow this year, I have learned that, although Global Minds is rooted in its goal of diversity and inclusion in schools, the program is entirely unique for every individual chapter because each school community has different circumstances and goals. By granting me ample opportunities to work alongside fellow student leaders, this Fellowship has also solidified my belief that youth leadership is the future. In all fields and settings, today’s youth offers a valuable, innovative perspective about the world that can enrich the ideas of every other generation.
Learn more about Global Minds and get involved by visiting worldpittsburgh.org.