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Ponderosa students receive prestigious award
Special to the News-Press
Ponderosa High School's PeaceJam club will be the first recipient of the PeaceJam Hero Award and will be receiving a visit from Nobel Peace Laureate and native-rights activist Rigoberta Menchú Tum on Nov. 17 at Ponderosa High School.
The Ponderosa PeaceJam club was chosen for its work in promoting the mission of PeaceJam: to create positive change in themselves, their communities and the world through the inspiration of Nobel Peace Laureates.
Menchú Tum will be visiting Denver for the first annual PeaceJam Hero Awards Luncheon, to be held on Nov. 18. This event will honor several outstanding PeaceJam supporters, but will also include the award given for the first ever PeaceJam Global Call to Action Challenge.
The annual Global Call to Action award, sponsored by the Pearson Foundation, encourages youth of all ages from across the globe to submit videos or written pieces on their Global Call to Action projects that capture their group’s impact and show the world what they have done to create positive change.
In addition, Ponderosa PeaceJam will receive expert coaching from the Pearson Foundation on how to create a professional-style video of their project and will work with the students to create a film documenting their visit with Menchú Tum and their award reception.
Three years ago, Ponderosa High School’s PeaceJam Club started a simple project, encouraging their school to recycle with the aim of reducing waste produced by the school’s 1,700 students. Staff and students alike quickly embraced the recycling movement and Ponderosa now fills nine recycling dumpsters weekly with paper, plastics, and metals used throughout the school day, decreasing the waste produced at Ponderosa by 70 percent.
When the District's Energy Manager became aware of the recycling movement, he approached Ponderosa's PeaceJammers about launching an energy management program. Working with their building maintenance director, PeaceJammers completed an energy audit of their school and found ways to reduce energy usage by 13.8 percent.
Desiring to involve the community in their green movement, Ponderosa PeaceJammers participated in organizing an electronics recycling event allowing community members to drop off unwanted electronics for recycling rather than sending them to the landfill. The club worked with Waste Management and Sony Corporation to collect over 120,000 pounds of electronics from over 1,200 community members. Because of their incredible work, the Ponderosa PeaceJam group was invited by Denver Sister Cities International to accompany Mayor Geoffery Majiwa, the mayor of Nairobi, Kenya on a tour of Denver's Waste Management recycling facility. Mayor Majiwa engaged the youth in dialogue about ways to introduce recycling and energy management and increase youth engagement in his home country.
Ponderosa's PeaceJammers have also been conducting donation drives for over two years for The Gathering Place, Denver's only daytime center for women and children experiencing homelessness and poverty. To date, over 5,000 pounds of nonperishable items have been collected.
“The students at Ponderosa High School show the power that young people have to improve their schools, their communities, and the world,” Dawn Engle, PeaceJam co-founder said. “Their efforts demonstrate that the spirit and commitment of the Nobel Peace Prize winners who support PeaceJam’s mission are universal, and that no matter what the age, each and every one of us can make an important difference.”
The Global Call to Action Challenge challenges young people to document in digital film and in writing the projects they’ve implemented to benefit their local communities.
Ponderosa High School's PeaceJam club will be the first recipient of the PeaceJam Hero Award and will be receiving a visit from Nobel Peace Laureate and native-rights activist Rigoberta Menchú Tum on Nov. 17 at Ponderosa High School.
The Ponderosa PeaceJam club was chosen for its work in promoting the mission of PeaceJam: to create positive change in themselves, their communities and the world through the inspiration of Nobel Peace Laureates.
Menchú Tum will be visiting Denver for the first annual PeaceJam Hero Awards Luncheon, to be held on Nov. 18. This event will honor several outstanding PeaceJam supporters, but will also include the award given for the first ever PeaceJam Global Call to Action Challenge.
The annual Global Call to Action award, sponsored by the Pearson Foundation, encourages youth of all ages from across the globe to submit videos or written pieces on their Global Call to Action projects that capture their group’s impact and show the world what they have done to create positive change.
In addition, Ponderosa PeaceJam will receive expert coaching from the Pearson Foundation on how to create a professional-style video of their project and will work with the students to create a film documenting their visit with Menchú Tum and their award reception.
Three years ago, Ponderosa High School’s PeaceJam Club started a simple project, encouraging their school to recycle with the aim of reducing waste produced by the school’s 1,700 students. Staff and students alike quickly embraced the recycling movement and Ponderosa now fills nine recycling dumpsters weekly with paper, plastics, and metals used throughout the school day, decreasing the waste produced at Ponderosa by 70 percent.
When the District's Energy Manager became aware of the recycling movement, he approached Ponderosa's PeaceJammers about launching an energy management program. Working with their building maintenance director, PeaceJammers completed an energy audit of their school and found ways to reduce energy usage by 13.8 percent.
Desiring to involve the community in their green movement, Ponderosa PeaceJammers participated in organizing an electronics recycling event allowing community members to drop off unwanted electronics for recycling rather than sending them to the landfill. The club worked with Waste Management and Sony Corporation to collect over 120,000 pounds of electronics from over 1,200 community members. Because of their incredible work, the Ponderosa PeaceJam group was invited by Denver Sister Cities International to accompany Mayor Geoffery Majiwa, the mayor of Nairobi, Kenya on a tour of Denver's Waste Management recycling facility. Mayor Majiwa engaged the youth in dialogue about ways to introduce recycling and energy management and increase youth engagement in his home country.
Ponderosa's PeaceJammers have also been conducting donation drives for over two years for The Gathering Place, Denver's only daytime center for women and children experiencing homelessness and poverty. To date, over 5,000 pounds of nonperishable items have been collected.
“The students at Ponderosa High School show the power that young people have to improve their schools, their communities, and the world,” Dawn Engle, PeaceJam co-founder said. “Their efforts demonstrate that the spirit and commitment of the Nobel Peace Prize winners who support PeaceJam’s mission are universal, and that no matter what the age, each and every one of us can make an important difference.”
The Global Call to Action Challenge challenges young people to document in digital film and in writing the projects they’ve implemented to benefit their local communities.
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