Leadership Development – Legacy’s approach
January 30, 2012
Legacy International’s approach to youth leadership development allows for all types of styles and skill levels. For us, leadership is based upon the ability to respond to the time, place, and circumstances one finds oneself in. Our dynamic peace building and dialogue workshop is a great place to build and practice leadership skills.
The Global Youth Village environment encourages an attitude, an identity, a set of new skills and understandings that allow leadership to emerge from individuals. Young people see the source of leadership coming from within rather than solely on public acknowledgment. It becomes solidified, based on the confidence of “this is what I am” rather than upon the effort of “this is what I am trying to be.” Our primary teaching method is experiential in a highly supportive environment. In all aspects of GYV - workshops, action teams and cabin life individuals are given opportunities. Young people are encouraged to try new things and develop teamwork skills. Young people leave with:
- Improved self-confidence, maturity; a positive outlook on life; renewed hope for the future
- Heightened commitment to active participation in the future of their communities
- Increased understanding of various cultures, global issues, and their interconnectedness
- Reinforced ability to respect people as individuals with unique strengths and weakness rather than to stereotype individuals by ethnic, national, racial or cultural prejudices and biases
- Increased self-discipline in setting, working towards, and achieving group and individual objectives
- Strengthened ability to organize and carry out community improvement projects successfully
- Enhanced ability to promote understanding among people
- Improved ability to find win-win solutions to interpersonal disputes and disagreements
- Acquired new perspectives on their own day to day dynamics
Learn more about our Program Choices, Dates and Fees
Discover Who We Are and what A Typical Day at GYV is like.
Read more articles about developing Leadership skills at the Global Youth Village
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- GYV Alumni Receives Prestigious Award
Daily Schedule
January 30, 2012
Your days are full at the Global Youth Village international summer camp. You’ll be in a Dialogue and Peace Building workshop and a wide range of team building activities in the afternoon, and a variety of recreational fun later on our woodland campus.
- Friends on GYV Carnival Day
While changing activities and moving from place to place, you’ll mix with others continuously throughout the day. You’ll soon become fast friends with everyone at GYV.
Typical daily schedule 2012
- 8:15 Breakfast
- 9:00-12:30 Morning Workshops
- 12:30-1:15 Lunch
- 1:15-2:00 Siesta Time
- 2:00-3:15 Afternoon Electives
- 3:15-3:45 Camp Store open
- 3:45- 5:00 Teamwork, Leadership and Community
- 5:00-6:30 Recreation time
- 6:45 Dinner
- 8:00 End of day gathering time
- 8:30-10:00 Evening programs
Meeting of alumni minds in Richmond!
January 25, 2012
Kashawn Rogers (front, right) with friends from around the world
From Jennifer Lewis, Global Youth Village 2011 Peace Building Instructor
As a Conflict Resolution Facilitator with the Richmond Peace Education Center, I gained the facilitation skills I needed to lead the Dialogue and Peace Building workshop with the Global Youth Village international summer camp. After having taking a year off from this position, I was a bit nervous returning to lead a workshop leading young people with behavioral challenges. Lucky for me, whenever facilitating with RPEC, I am blessed with youth co-facilitators, who often are the most influential leaders of the workshop. Being closer in age to the participants, they often can make deeper connections with the participants and provide real-world examples that adults are simply unaware of. During my most recently workshop I led, my youth co-facilitator doubly blessed me.
Due to scheduling difficulties, I did not meet my co-facilitator until the day of our workshop. When I arrived at our host organization and met my co-facilitator, I realized I knew this young man! It took only a few seconds to for me to place Kashawn Rogers as one of the Global Youth Village’s 2011 participants! I wish a camera had captured the smile on my face when I saw Kashawn. Knowing that a GYV participant, especially Kashawn, was my co-facilitator for this workshop, which I had been nervous about, instantly put me at ease.
Kashawn was easily one of the most charming and genuine young men at the Global Youth Village that summer. His positive demeanor carried over to his work as co-facilitation for our workshop. He led activities with confidence and passion. Kashawn truly believes that young people need healthier alternatives to violence and most impressively, he makes non-violence sound cool! Kashawn is applying the lessons he learned at the Global Youth Village to young people who genuinely need to hear that there are alternatives to violence and that youth are powerful leaders in our world.
Jennifer Lewis
Lead Conflict Resolution Facilitator – Richmond Peace Education Center
Dialogue and Peace Building Instructor – Global Youth Village, summer 2010 & 2011
**To learn more about Jennifer and Kashawn’s work with the Richmond Peace Education Center (RPEC) and Richmond Youth Peace Project (RYPP) visit: http://rpec.org/
Change is in the Air
January 25, 2012
In December 2010, Tunisian vegetable seller Mohammed Bouazizi set himself on fire and unwittingly became the catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the subsequent Arab Spring. This week marks the anniversary of the amazing Egyptian Revolution in Tahrir Square. In general, 2011 was a year of paradigm shifts around the world. Governments were toppled in the Middle East and North Africa, Occupy movements were born in the United States and many cities around the world, and civil unrest erupted in Russia as thousands take to streets protesting election fraud. One can smell the impending wave of change in the air.
Photo Courtesy of Ksat.com
In 2012, this paradigm shift looks set to continue. What are your thoughts on the shift? What kind of changes would you like to see take place? To help you process these issues, we’ve created a short 4-question survey. Tell us what’s on your mind. We’ll share results with you in February!
Mohammed Bouazizi, initiator of the Arab Spring
Remembering Dr. King: Countering Racism and Intolerance
January 25, 2012
This month, we celebrate Martin Luther King’s birthday and commemorate his legacy by doing service work. Although the civil rights movement Dr. King championed was ultimately effective, many would argue the fight against racism and intolerance is far from over.
friends from around the world at the GYV carnival
According to TIME magazine, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and other civil rights groups, there has been a dramatic rise in the increase of hate groups and militias in the past two years. Last month, the department store chain Lowe’s was came under fire for pulling ads from the popular TLC show “All-American Muslim”. The controversial immigration laws recently passed in Arizona and Alabama have created heated debates on issues of racial profiling. It seems as though everywhere we look, we can see flags of racism, intolerance and misunderstanding. But, pockets of tolerance and understanding do exist and one such place is our international summer camp in Virginia.
Nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains, Global Youth Village stands out as a place where racism and intolerance are openly discussed. These difficult and complex topics often come up during our peace building and dialogue workshops where young people are encouraged to confront their own stereotypes or racist attitudes; they are then equipped with the tools to constructively address their issues.
After being forced by the Serbs to flee his home in Kosovo in 1999, alum Kreshe Kacaniku P’03 says, “I had a lot of prejudice towards certain people groups before I came to GYV, but I changed. At GYV, I learned not to hate, not to be prejudiced. ” During the past 33 years, Global Youth Village has trained young people from conflict-ridden countries like Cambodia, Israel/Palestine, Iraq, and Ireland and provided them with tools to become more conscious, tolerant and compassionate peace builders.
Most recently in our 2011 program, the stereotypes that lead to ignorance, intolerance and racism were shattered once again. Participant Jacob Trump P’11 said, “In American culture, when we look at Iraqis or anyone from the Muslim religion or faith, we generally think about a head covering, a suicide bombing or war. I think I had that stereotype. I really did, but it has genuinely been torn down for me at Global Youth Village.”
Against the backdrop of an increasingly intolerant world, Global Youth Village continues to be place that creates common ground among people of different backgrounds. The program demonstrates that universal human values such as peace, justice, tolerance and understanding can be a reality. Our 2012 programs hope to continue this legacy.
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality…. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
— Martin Luther King, Jr
Teamwork, Leadership and Community
January 18, 2012
Community building is very important at the Global Youth Village international summer camp. GYV 
youth participate in various settings and are invited into discussion and encouraged to cultivate new skills, or trying something new together with their friends . Teamwork, Leadership and Community time is an opportunity to engage in leadership training Each afternoon, participants are mixed into “families” of 9 students. Over the course of a session, each “family” experiences the following:
- A discussion on belief systems
- A nature walk
- An art project “what does home mean to you”
- Serving our GYV community
- Discussion of U.N. Millennium Development Goals
- Stress relief methods
- Team building exercises
Read more articles about developing Leadership skills at the Global Youth Village
- Service and Advocacy
- Summer Participants Volunteer at Local Soup Kitchen
- GYV Alumni inspired to be a Social Innovator
- GYV Alumni Receives Prestigious Award
