March comes in like a lion...

This month marked the beginning of the spring project season. Although it is still cold, and the rain is still to come, March has been a good month here in the 'baijan. I've recently began the 2nd Annual Youth Civic Leadership Academy. Some of you are aware that I created and hosted this project in Ganja last year. This year however, there have been several changes to the project.

First and foremost, the project has more students and is over a longer period of time. Each group of students is interviewed and selected for both their english language ability, and their diversity. We choose students who represent a variety of different universities and schools, majors, professions and backgrounds. Not all of the students are originally from Ganja, and those who are represent different communities within Ganja. We have selected 21 participants between the ages of 15 and 25 for the first group. This group is currently in week 5 of an 8 week program. They meet daily Monday through Friday for two hours a day, and two lessons a day. The lessons this year include classes on leadership, diversity, history of democracy in the western world, history of democracy in a Muslim society, volunteerism and civic engagement, public speaking and debate, US government and human rights. I'm currently teaching leadership, diversity, speech and debate, and human rights for the project. Two other volunteers are helping to assist with the project and teaching their own classes.

The first group of the project will end toward the end of April, but the second group will start its 8 weeks immediately after. The third group will begin in June. Finally, our project will not only conclude with a summer leadership camp, but it will host two camps this year in order to include more students. We are hoping to take students back to the mountains to a team building retreat where they can build on communication, leadership, teamwork and self confidence. The camp is often a once in a life time opportunity for students to get to know each other personally without the interference of school, family or other social obligations. It is truly the experience of a life time.

I'm excited for this project to begin as it gives me great pleasure to work with new students. It's always interesting to see just how similar, as well as how different we really are.