Dr. Nat Irvin II, founder and president of the futurist think tank Future Focus 2020 has dedicated himself to exploring and chartering the internal landscape of a newly emerging cohort of young people of color known as thrivals (http://business.wfu.edu/apps/files/thrivals.pdf). In his own words, Dr. Irvin describes thrivals as “the post-struggle generation of African Americans, [Hispanic/Latino-Americans, and Native Americans] characterized by a keen awareness of and appreciation for multiculturalism, globalization, and change.”  Dr. Irvin began to recognize thrivals as a distinct group when he saw certain similarities in the students enrolled in the “It’s All About Business” extracurricular program he created.  What he found was that students with no prior knowledge of each other knew about each other.  They had read the same books, watched the same television shows, and were into languages; they shared a new frame of reference in which race was only one of many characteristics.

So what does it mean to be a thrival? “Thrivalry” has come to be determined not by age, but by mind-set. Possessing the curiosity of a child coupled with the perspective of a sociologist, thrivals are characterized by their global perspective, unique self-images, and eclectic approaches to just about every aspect of life.  A few of the elements that thrivals share are their high academic achievement and leadership abilities, interest in language and culture, and social consciousness.  Here at NC4GE, we help to foster and develop these interests and talents in our students. So far, 100% of our high school students have graduated from high school, and 100% of them are pursuing degrees at institutions of higher education. Our programs have provided opportunities for 135 students to explore over 30 different countries and engage in language courses, cultural studies, and leadership development activities. Students also intern at various non-profits, social enterprises, and governmental organizations. This year we will usher in another cohort of 120 students to go through our high school and college programs.

The term thrival is one that has become very dear to the staff at NC4GE. The transformative power of thrivals is yet to be fully harnessed, but it goes without saying that this emerging cohort of African-American, Hispanic/Latino, and Native American forward-looking thinkers is taking the future by storm. Through our programs, students gain critical access to worldwide educational, civic and career opportunities. We are engineering a group of people who will be readily able to compete, contribute, and thrive in significant positions of leadership in every professional sector of a global society. We recognize that the continued success of our generation and those to come depends heavily on our ability to compete in the rapidly globalizing professional world. We revere the urgency of the African proverb “Tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today”.  This is why we can’t wait.

In mid-December, we were pleasantly surprised to receive a call from Ms. Sirisha Papineni politely but curiously inquiring as to why we had not yet responded to an invitation sent in late October – from President Bill Clinton and his team at the Clinton Global Initiative University conference! Though we weren’t thrilled with the post office that our invite was lost in the mail, we were ecstatic and honored to be invited to this gathering. 

Building on President Bill Clinton’s lifetime in public service, the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) reflects his belief that collaboration among leaders from all sectors of society is essential to affecting positive global change. To harness the potential of the next generation of leaders from campuses around the world, President Clinton launched CGI University (CGI U) in 2007. Every CGI U member – including students, youth organizations, and university officials – develops a Commitment to Action: a specific plan that addresses a social or environmental challenge on campuses, in local communities, or around the world. Commitments are made in one of five CGI U Global Challenge Areas: Education, Environment & Climate Change, Peace & Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation, and Public Health.

Each year, President Clinton convenes the CGI U commitment-makers, global luminaries, and renowned experts to come together to turn ideas into action. Through the CGI U Meeting and year-round commitment development support, CGI U catalyzes action, facilitates partnerships, and builds knowledge to help a growing community of global citizens work toward innovative solutions that improve lives around the world. Learn more about CGIU and the Clinton Foundation by clicking here.

Early December 2009 marked the first ever National Teacher Leader Training for the Bardoli Global Scholars Program (BGSP) — the signature high school program in NCGE’s K-12 Education portfolio. The program is designed to take high-potential students of color from urban public schools on an 18 month global leadership development experience which includes study abroad, language learning, launching their own social venture, and participating in an internship. To date, 135 students have worked and studied in over 26 countries around the world as part of the program. We are extremely grateful for all the partners who helped make our inaugural NTLT a success with special gratitude going to Teach For America – Atlanta, Park’s Edge Restaurant, the King Center and the Emory Hotel and Conference Center for being our gracious hosts for the weekend.

During the NTLT, we welcomed the following teachers from schools and school districts in Metro Charlotte, NC; Greater Houston, TX; and Metro Atlanta, GA.

Atlanta

Ms. Desiree Glover (Carver School of Health Sciences and Research)

Ms. Lindsay Bober (South Atlanta School of Computer Animation and Design)

Ms. Konteint Redmon (South Atlanta School of Health and Medical Sciences)

Charlotte

Katie Willett (Academy of International Studies at Independence High School)

Ms. Elena Tosky (International Studies at Garinger High School)

Kimberly Cochran (West Mecklenburg High School)

Houston

Ms. Lynda Daniel (YES Prep Southeast)

Ms. Paola Guerra (KIPP Houston High School)

More exciting is the fact that for the 2009-2010 program year, the BGSP program has migrated from its more traditional direct service model (working with a few students from many different schools OUTSIDE the school building) to a school-based model designed to be more scalable while also have a more direct impact on school culture.

In January 2010, each of these partner schools will select a cohort of 10 new Scholars for a total of 90 outstanding high school sophomores and juniors who will make the third cohort of Bardoli Global Scholars. In switching to a school-based model we have proudly established a new role on the NCGE regional operations team for “Teacher Leaders” – faculty members at each of our partner schools who work on behalf of NCGE to implement the BGSP curriculum with students and families at their own schools. The Regional Operations Team for 2009 is composed of 9 Teacher Leaders, 9 Collegiate Fellows, and 6 Program and Development Associates. Together, each of these stakeholders will make a phenomenally strong support team for students chosen as Bardoli Global Scholars.

Check back for an update to our Flickr photo stream with pictures of this great weekend!

For American students of color, college enrollment is approximately 25%; yet only 9% of those students choose to leave the U.S. despite an abundance of academic, service, and professional opportunities abroad. The National Center for Global Engagement (NCGE) has been created to provide these opportunities for high potential students of color across the nation.

NCGE was created after a year’s worth of collaborative work between Marquis Brown, Founder of the BrownBell Foundation, Anthony Jewett, Founder of the Bardoli Global Foundation, and the Monitor Group of Cambridge, MA. A year ago Brown and Jewett represented separate organizations focused on diversifying study abroad. Their work together, however, revealed how complimentary their respective programs were to one another. The two developed a vision of a larger, combined organization that would house their programs under one roof—the National Center for Global Engagement.

“Our merger represents a logical connection between two philosophically and programmatically aligned organizations. My K-12 work with Bardoli Global and Marquis’ Higher Education work with BrownBell create a linear path to increasing global exposure for students of color from kindergarten to college,” said Jewett, Managing Director of NCGE’s K-12 Education Group.

The K-12 Group will work with high potential students of color in urban public schools while the Higher Education Group will work with high potential college students at Historically Black, Hispanic, and Tribal Institutions. “We’re starting with student groups whom we believe are most likely to benefit in the near term. Over the coming years we will build from those groups to serve a larger, broader audience,” said Marquis Brown, Managing Director of NCGE’s Higher Education Group. For the 2009-2010 academic year NCGE will serve 114 students at high schools and colleges in Atlanta, GA, Charlotte, N.C., and Houston, TX.