High School Sequence 2014
This summer GYLI held five transformative trips in the 12th consecutive year of offering High School Sequence. As many of you know these programs began in 2002 in response to the events of 9/11/2001—and we have been offering them every year since that tragic day. There were two YEAR 1 programs “Sailing in the Wake of our Ancestors” on The Mystic Whaler in Connecticut, two YEAR 2 programs “Developing Your Personal Leadership Vision” at the Lama Foundation in New Mexico, and one YEAR 3 Program “Models of Global Pluralism and World Food Systems” at EARTH in Costa Rica at EARTH University.
Over 30 schools from the US were represented this summer and participated in leadership development activities and hands-on learning experiences revolving around the four pillars of GYLI: collaborative leadership, multi-cultural identity, religious pluralism, and environmental sustainability. These schools are from all parts of the USA and Costa Rica.
Each student and adult returned home with a Leader Learning Plan (LLP) to transfer their powerful learning into to their own communities. Some LLP’s focused on stress reducation, alleviation of hunger and poverty, and a renewed focus on the environment. Some LLPs were very personal (“becoming vegan”) and others invole th
e whole school (“working on eliminating negative language in our school”).
Participants returned homes having been challenged to consider their relationship to their self, to others and to the earth, and to consider how they can use their GYLI experiences, including the identification of their personal leadership styles and multicultural identities, to be effective, positive, change maker in their communities