Most students in our school paid $2 to participate in a Terry Fox Walk, where we raised $1313.46 for cancer research.

We organized a white ribbon campaign and petition to raise awareness of sexual exploitation of children and to express the need for stricter child pornography laws.

Due to money we collected and from our recycling program, we paid a full year of foster parenting for Ali Sai, a 5 year old boy from Nicaragua. We plan to continue this program.

We have donated hundreds of dollars of food to the local Food Basket. We accomplished this through a food drive held on Halloween night, proceeds from a pop concert which featured singer Jessica Rhaye, a student vs. teacher soccer game, and the Harbour Lights Campaign, which collects money to light a Christmas tree and then donates the money to the food bank.

• Victoria Harbour Elementary School

Since 1992 we have not only been creating awareness of the problems in Sierra Leone, but also assisting the families and children in the town of Port Loko. Initially we sent a box of school supplies every year, with other items sent when needed: shoes, sports equipment, money for medical supplies, etc. Every fall we raise money for the Port Loko school by making, publishing, and selling calendars that feature drawings of life in Sierra Leone. In the spring we shold a concert to raise additional money. Due to these efforts the Port Loko school was able to build a well and a holding tank with taps so that the whole community could use the water. In 1995 we turned our debating group into a lobby group in order to put pressure on the UN Security Council, media, and religious and political leaders to try to bring about the release of students from Port Loko who were abducted.

• JFK Catholic High School

We have formed a new model UN club at our school. Our first project is to "Adopt a Mine Field" and teach people about the global problem of landmines. We have formed a partnership with Mt. Vernon high school and Somers Middle School.

• Somers Middle School

We decided to form a model UN club at our school. Forming this club is our project, with the first activity being "Adopt a Mine Field". We searched the Internet for information on landmines and we will do a poster presentation on landmines before having a student discussion of the landmine problem.

• Mount Vernon High School

Our model UN club held a conference at our school, where we discussed an issue that was very important to us – land mines. We arranged to have a guest speaker from the UN talk to us about the many danger of land mines, which increased our awareness of the problem.

• Fundacion Cultural Baur

Last August, we invited a representative of the Tarahumaras to talk to students about their communities and their lacks. The Tarahumarans exhibited and sold their handicrafts, and met with students later to discuss ways of helping them.

We then visited an indigenous community in the Huasteca Potosina where we met with the leader, interacted with the people, and observed the environment. We created a plan of action, committing to send monthly donations, which we achieved through fund raising, and the collection of groceries, clothes, medicines, and toys. We visit the area twice a year, and also arranged for a delegate visit the area and teach people how to best use natural resources for a more nutritious and balanced diet.

• Upattinas School

We, as a student body, wanted to learn more about the needs of local people. We arranged for a county commissioner to come to our school for a discussion. After the talk, we went into fields to pick crops for those in need. This was part of a program started by the commissioner called the Gleaning Project. In the spring we plan to plant our own garden and continue the project.

Our first major campaign was the gathering of signatures from our entire school in support of the Convention of the Rights of the Children. We have gathered close to 800 signatures and forwarded them to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan.

Our second activity was a major fundraising campaign on behalf of UNICEF. Students in every grade were given UNICEF boxes and were asked to collect money for children in developing countries. We collected $1461.09, and our faculty members have added to make it $1500.

Our most ambitious project is for our model UN club to become more proactive in the community. We are going to hold what we hope will be an annual event in the spring, much like yours, promoting students becoming involved with Human Rights. We are coordinating this with all of the high schools in our county that wish to participate. We are going to try to enlist corporate sponsorship to help implement programs.

• LeSalle College High School

We will be focusing on a variety of issues including children’s rights. Throughout the year, we respond to Amnesty International Urgent Actions. We conduct petition drives. We are planning to animate the school with a variety of activities during our International Human Rights week. Specifically, we are planning two petition drives regarding the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Optional Protocol. In the Spring, our hope is to have a school assembly on children’s rights.

• Booker T. Washington School

Our mission has been to educate the public about landmines, and to raise funds to remove them in affected countries. To that end, we have shared this proposal with the largest Mini-United Nations gathering of its kind in Florida. We also assisted in developing a Walk-A-Thon to support UNICEF in its anti-personnel landmine work and to support local parks in making playground equipment safe. Finally, we participated in UNICEF’s Trick-or-Treat campaign.

We have been studying child labor, have created a video on the topic, and plan to share what we have learned with the third through sixth grade classes of our school In addition, we are working with the University of Montana Human Rights Club on a compact disc drive and the proceeds from the donated CDs will be used to help fund a school renovation project in Nepal.

• Waldorf School

We have been engaging in fund-raising efforts, including a walk-a-thon, to help five Colombian students finance tuition at our school, the International Waldorf School. These students and their families have come to the United States because of an undeclared, drug cartel-backed guerilla war that is taking place in Colombia. We consider it our responsibility to help these students stay in our school. Every child has a right to an education.

• Western Wyoming School

We researched child labor. As a solution we plan to lobby to pass legislature which would regulate American based corporations, forcing them to pay a minimum wage and to hire no one younger than 10. Such action would also ensure that these children receive at least an eighth grade education.

• International Bridges

We have been working with high school students from The First Bosniak High School in Sarajevo, Bosnia to build a fully equipped "peace" playground and children’s library in Saajevo. We intend to raise money for the playground and library by involving our community and schools. In conjunction with high school students in Sarajevo, the project will help to design and install a playground and library.

Our school is interested in the rights of children and education. We plan to hold a book drive and then forward the books to a school in Zambia that has a great need for them. We will also hold a fundraiser in order to raise the necessary shipping costs.

• Akiba Hebrew Academy, Merion Station, PA, USA., Germantown Friends School Philadelphia, PA, USA., Gratz College High School, Philadelphia, PA, USA., Friends Select High School, Philadelphia, PA, USA., Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, USA.

We have formed a coalition of schools to work together to form an interfaith youth movement. We will include a peace education curriculum to coordinate human rights clubs in each school and to collaborate on planning activities and assemblies, bringing in speakers, materials, dialogues, and projects. We will also have work-study internships with organizations involved in human rights, the nuclear threat, and the environment. We are planning to organize a large youth congress in Philadelphia in the spring with a concert for peace by local high school bands. Also planned is a large community Freedom Seder led by Akiba Academy students to focus on liberation from child slavery, the nuclear threat, and other forms of oppression.

• Charles Patton Middle School

After attending UN Day2000 at Chestnut Hill College, we decided to host our own UN Day2000. There will also be mini forums run by an assortment of guest speakers including a child rights lawyer who is very involved in the global advancement of children’s rights, a senator, a judge, a foreign exchange student from Kenya, an educator who taught in Namibia, and a Peace Corps volunteer. Our landmine group is writing pamphlets to educate the public. The criminal justice group is writing letters to different magazines and newspapers. The group on child labor is creating a website to raise awareness. The child rights group is writing a petition to the USA to sign the Convention on the rights of the Child. A group doing food, shelter, and health is working in soup kitchens and for Habitat for Humanity.

• Lower Merion High School

We plan to raise money to send to the ICBL Challenge Fund or to UNA-GP’s Adopt-a-Minefield Campaign. There will also be a campaign to solicit contributions by giving a black ribbon to all contributors. We are also encouraging students and others to sign a petition which asks for an increase in what the United States spends for de-mining and for reconsideration of the U.S.’s rejection of the Landmine Treaty.

• Reading High School

We are forming a UN Club to use as the center of our work. We will concentrate on political action and letter writing regarding issues.

• Ridley High School

We have placed a greater emphasis regarding children’s rights in our Global Perspectives course that is required for all our tenth grade students. Within this course our students learn the concept of human rights through a Child labor Conference. During the conference the students study the United States child labor laws in order to understand how the government protects the health and welfare of working minors. Ultimately, the students must argue, persuade, and defend their views as well as views of others from many nations which lead to an understanding of differing economic and political forces which impact decision making.

• North Penn High School

Our project will be to increase awareness on the plight of refugees around the world. This will be done first through public speakers. This will hopefully include the new Southern Sudanese refugees now enrolled at this school and throughout the Philadelphia area. This will be the beginning of our refugee awareness program. Next will be an effort to convince local businesses such as Merck to sponsor at least a portion of the education of these refugee students.

After attending the United Nations Day at Chestnut Hill College, our group gathered at school to discuss what could be done to inform and educate our classmates about important world issues. We organized a presentation that will be given to the rest of the middle school to teach them about what is being done, what will be done, and what can be done to stop serious problems around the world such as child labor and the use of children in war. We also put together history projects dealing with various history world issues during the Industrial Revolution and what has been done to fix them today.

• Lawnside School

To promote peace in various ways at our school, the entire student body will be making posters, writing letters to our state senator and using the Internet and other resources to research the are of rights and responsibilities of youth. We will also distribute the Manifesto 2000 commitment letter throughout the school and community to assist us in getting the entire school and community involved in making a commitment to peace. As a culminating activity, a Multi-Cultural Fair is planned for the end of the school year.

• Penndale Middle School

We plan to solicit card stock and envelopes from a corporation such as Staples or Office Max. We will solicit ribbon from an art supply store such as A.C. Moore or Michael’s, produce sketches pertaining to cause to be printed on the front sides of the card stock, and research the causes to which the profits of this project would go. We will then write a background paragraph to put on the back of the cards to inform the recipients of the card about the objective of the project. On the back of the card we will include other places where the recipient can donate money, food, old clothing and toys, or possibly volunteer.

After returning from UN Day2000 we met with Upper Darby’s World Affairs Club to discuss the different focus topics. We related what we learned form the speakers and their group discussions: children in armed conflict, rights and responsibilities, conflict prevention and resolution, and landmines. We brainstormed ideas on how to spread information and how to collect signatures for the Manifesto 2000. We plan to get coverage in our school newspaper and we set a goal of getting 500 signatures.

• South Seneca High School

We participated in a video conference with Global Education Motivators on a Words to Deeds theme. We have decided to participate in writing and illustrating a children’s book called From Words to Deeds to help celebrate The International Year for a Culture of Peace. We want to write one book each, make multiple copies and have shared reading time to share this with elementary students and to distribute copies, perhaps even globally.

• Anne Sullivan Communications Center

On May 23rd, 2000, students from Sullivan and Transitions Charter School gathered to discuss the issues of today's growing youth. At the meeting were also some speakers, and listeners from the community. Here we expressed needs of today's youth. One of the things we expressed as a need was a place for teens to hang out. Since then this has been established. We also talked about after "school programs" and bus fares being too high for some kids to afford.

• The Dwight School

We have been working to promote human rights through our International Fellows Program at Dwight School. Specifically, we have undertaken a computer drive and fundraising for science equipment for a sister school in Kosovo. We have also been engaged in awareness building activities about the situation in war-torn villages in Kosovo through the Balkan Sunflowers Program. Finally, we participate in the Seeds of Peace organization that aims to foster understanding and tolerance in the Middle East.

• Sussex School,

We have been studying child labor, have created a video on the topic, and plan to share what we have learned with the third through sixth grade classes of our school. In addition, we are working with the University of Montana Human Rights Club on a compact disc drive and the proceeds from the donated CDs will be used to help fund a school renovation project in Nepal.

• Waldorf International School

We have been engaging in fund-raising efforts, including a walk-a-thon, to help five indigent Colombian students finance tuition at our school, the International Waldorf School. These students and their families have come to the United States because of an undeclared, drug cartel-backed guerilla war that is taking place in Colombia. The cartels have been kidnapping and murdering of Colombian youths, prompting a mass exodus from the country. We consider it our responsibility to help these students to stay in our school given every child’s right to an education.

• Booker T. Washington Magnet School

We have assisted in developing a Walk-A-Thon to support UNICEF in its anti-personnel landmine work and to support local parks in making playground equipment safe. Finally, I was in charge of my school’s Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF campaign.

• Jackson Hole High School and Middle School

Landmines are one of the greatest threats to people and animals; they hurt or kill one person every 22 minutes. We think that only when people are educated, not only about how mines work, but about how serious a problem they are, will something be done.

• Western Wyoming High School

Children as young as six are forced to work in factories for large multi-national corporations, are denied educations, and are unfairly compensated for their labor. As a solution, we could lobby to pass legislature which would regulate American based corporations, forcing them to pay a minimum wage and to hire no one younger than 10. Such action would also ensure that these children receive at least an eighth grade education.

• Wilson Elementary School

Following extensive research and personal reflection, we produced a 3-sided display plus an additional smaller display which included information on the Untied Nations, Rights and Responsibilities-Actions You Can Take (local to international suggestions), information on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and information of the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo regarding children fighting in the internal wars of that country.

• UN International School

Dhooquoshay is the name of a village located in the East-African country of Somalia. On top of that Dhooquoshay is also the name of the school located in this village. The school and its students lack basic supplies such as pens, pencils, and paper.

Dhooquoshay, the club at UNIS, consists of about 25 high school students. The committee raises money primarily for the school but also for the village. The money, which comes from bake sales and other school related fundraisers such as dances, goes towards buying the supplies that many of us have come to take for granted, but are in fact essential to these children. We also raised funds for OXFAM and Amnesty International.