OUR CASE FOR GLOBAL COOPERATION

“Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder gives students from around the world a clear, inspired vision of how to confront what we call ‘the paralysis of enormity’ – the futile feeling of looking at a challenge that seems too

big, too entrenched to even approach.” - Bob Bandoni, Executive Director

Global Partnerships - Global Cooperation - Global Solutions

Economists, CEOs, and academics continue to urge schools to align themselves with the realities of globalization. Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder: The

International School of Global Citizenship is responding with a mission that weaves the various strands of this calling into a strategic plan that forges partnerships

between schools, students, and non-governmental organizations from six continents. Through both traditional and experiential learning, students are

introduced to the confluence of politics, economics, geography, culture, and ethics as a contributor to endemic poverty and, more importantly, to sustainable solutions.

For two consecutive summer sessions we hauled stone, timber, and paint over mountain passes, shoulder-to-shoulder with locals, to build a hostel for girls in the Everest region of Nepal . Addressing dark lessons of human trafficking revealed the most promising insight into empowering women through education.

Our work in the Bolivian Amazon includes assisting doctors in itinerant clinics. Basic health care issues and solutions become evident when we see rudimentary intervention change lives.

“The relationship SStS has formed with Rio Beni Health Foundation exceeded all my expectations. In our short time together our students created real change in the Lower

Amazon Basin. The water filter project brings a fundamental need, clean water, to a forgotten

population, and our efforts expedited the process. Too often, service learning experiences provide

mutual respect, yet minimal change – but leaving the Amazon I felt an overwhelming sense of

accomplishment, a love for a population, and a joy for the lives that our group was able to touch.”

- Slade, Course Instructor

Philosophy

Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder is founded on a

simple concept: for the next generation of secondary

school students to be effective global citizens,

they need direct experience engaging intellect, curiosity,

and a sense of obligation to address fundamental

world issues. We believe that this age group – across continents – is inherently

creative, energetic, idealistic, and bold enough to create

a worldview shaped by universal values of

justice, responsibility, and compassion.

Purpose

SStS’s purpose is to compel the world’s

students, teachers, schools, corporations, non-

governmental organizations, and philanthropists to

act synergistically on the universal values inherent

in global citizenship. Seen as assets for each other, in a quest for sustainable global change, these international constituents can combine efforts to create the most

significant force for addressing issues related to

endemic poverty.

Mission

Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder’s mission is to

inspire secondary school students to engage in

global citizenship through online study, extended

service-work, and public presentation.

For the past three years, SStS students built and installed 135 pound water filters in Bolivian villages on the Amazon. Working and living with locals, our students learn that addressing basic health needs makes it possible for communities to initiate more long term planning.

“The SStS program reaffirmed my belief about the human connection; we are all brothers and sisters,

even when we are continents apart.”- Tali, Student

After building hutches and pens for animals and a greenhouse for year-long crop development, SStS built and installed a full drip irrigation system, including a cistern, to support our partner NGO’s model of self-sustaining community homes (orphanages). After six months, we learned that our efforts created an oasis in a drought crippled area. The community home had such abundance that it sold crops for operating expenses.

It’s easy to imagine how meaningful interactions with children help set the course for a lifetime of global citizenship.

In Tibet we worked for two weeks to build a shower house for an orphanage supported by a local monastery. Every boy from the orphanage along with local laborers worked daily with us until the project was finished.

Impact

The impact we have on our NGOs’ communities is the foundation for the profound impact on all of our partners, especially students. This info-graph depicts our

accomplishments in 2012.

BOLIVIAWorked 372 hours supporting the Rio Beni Health Foundation.

Built and installed 12 water filters including one serving a school with 60 Bolivian students.

Supported a mobile health clinic that provided services to 64 people.

Filters provide safe potable water for

up to 40 years.

NEW ORLEANSWorked 175 hours in support of Common Ground Relief.

Partnered with a school in the Lower Ninth Ward on a community gardening project aimed at improving students’ nutrition.

Transferred native plants from a nursery to a wetland in order to help rehabilitate an ecosystem, reducing the impact of hurricanes.

NEPALWorked a total of 600 hours supporting The Small World.

Installed a water tank that will provide year-round access to fresh, potable water for a dormitory serving 40 girls, enabling them to attend school.

Projects allow each girl to spend over an hour more each day on their schoolwork as opposed to hauling water.

KENYAWorked 360 hours supporting International Peace Initiatives. Helped on a bio-intensive organic farm that provides food for over 20 orphans.

Supported the construction of an eco-guest cottage that will provide revenue for an orphanage that aims to be 90% economically self-sustaining by 2013.

Worked 240 hours in support of the Tibetan Village Project.

Helped to construct a shower house that will improve the health and hygiene of40 orphans and their teachers.

Transformed the kitchen to prepare for a stove with improved ventilation system and a concrete floor.

Established a system for washing and drying laundry for the orphans.

TIBET

CAMBODIAWorked 378 hours supporting the Cambodian Rural Development Team in the island village of Koh Preah.

Improved school facilities serving 300 families.

Worked 121 hours supporting a food program and mobile library serving impoverished children in Phnom Penh.

“The wave of accomplishment that hit me was for more than just uprooting a

single rock. We uprooted our differences and tossed them aside into a large pile.

We broke down barriers that should have kept the two of us separate, and

we realized that we both have the same goal: make a better community.”

- Emily, Student

Traditions and history – culture - provide a framework for developing compassion.

During work days, SStS students learn from local leaders. The contentious politics related to Katrina recovery in New Orleans came alive when SStS students spoke with locals “on-the-ground.”

Block-by-block we built a cottage on the grounds of IPI’s community home that will be rented to tourists visiting this renowned safari region, yet another revenue source for the orphanage and illustration of sustainable development.

“Our child came home more reflective and thoughtful regarding our world and her place in it. For that my wife and I are very appreciative.”- Anonymous, Parent

The final phase of a Shoulder-to-Shoulder experience includes public presentations in which students advocate for the NGOs through the Five Lens perspective. These formal sessions occur at SStS’s annual Global Solutions Forum (above) and in students’ schools.

Engaging with locals of all ages quickly fosters the bonds of humanity’s common ground.

Access to clean water is a critical variable for most of our NGOs’ communities. During the past few years, we have built and installed water filters that save lives, allowing communities to focus on higher steps of development such as education.

“The people I met, the memories I created, and the endless things I learned will forever be ingrained in my mind. I went there in hopes of

changing someone else’s life but along the way my life was changed.”

- Rosie, Students

The Team

What began as a school-based program - with a volunteer staff - now has three full-time employees, a board of directors with executive,

advisory, and alumni divisions, a clear strategic road map, and a brand that is finding traction among schools.

Our course instructors are trained educators with deep beliefs in the power of the SStS mission.

Administrative Staff

Bob BandoniExecutive Director of SStS

Susanne JohnsonExecutive Assistant

Kate BlaksleeDirector of Global Liaisons

Mike BeerntsenProgramming Director

Slade CogswellMarketing Director

Ryan Gray Education Director

Executive BoardBob Bandoni

Executive Director of SStS

Brooks BockExecutive Director Colorado

Mountain Medical

Carlos Mier-y-TeranGrupo MYT

David WhiteCreekside Capital

Jane WestHeart of the West Counseling

Mark WilhelmAmWare International

Michael SlevinPrudential Gore Range Properties

Michele HoveyInternational Peace Initiatives

Mike TheilmannFormer JC Penny

Sakina SakerwallaSave the Children

Cambodia

Advisory BoardBob Carey

EducatorNew Orleans, Louisiana

Kathy RulonChief of StaffPeace Corps

Washington, DC

Michael JohnstonColorado State Senator

Denver, Colorado

Nikken CullmanEconomist

Washington, DC

Ross GravesSustainable Development

Alumni BoardAdi Slifer

Vanderbilt University

Alexandra NavasNorthwestern University

Christiana WhiteHarvard Medical School

Cole GraskampTulane University

David DelineUniversity of Colorado

Forrest GravesUniversity of Wisconsin

Harper KaufmanUniversity of Montana

Joely DenkingerUniversity of St. Andrews

Kelsey PeckSeattle University

Mia BandoniBates College

Nicholas WilhelmUniversity of Colorado

Wesley BattsSavannah College of

Art and Design

Eleanor ArnoldEpiscopal School of Dallas

Former JC Penney VP

Pat McConathyFormer Board of GovernorsColorado State University

McCoy, Colorado

Gypsum, Colorado

Culture

Five Lenses

The Five Lens Curriculum is the foundation of all Shoulder-to-Shoulder courses. It is our way of addressing the “paralysis of enormity.” Before we travel, students and course instructors deconstruct the issues our NGOs are addressing through online,

interactive lessons, one for each lens. What can each of the lenses teach us about the issues? When students meet for the first time in the airport, they are put in

research pairs, each assigned to a lens.

Ethics Geography

PoliticsGeography Economics

Throughout their onsite stay, students learn in greater depth through a combination of assigned readings and interviews with our NGO partners and local leaders. During

the last few days of the in-country experience, course instructors guide students in leading discussions with their course mates about the insights they gleaned from “looking” through their particular lens. This is the point when we hope that the

“enormity” of the issues can be seen through approachable angles and increments.

“For our daughter, we had expected the dramatic impact of her being exposed to another culture; the

emotions, the re-evaluating of priorities and the growth of maturity. All amazing benefits that she has experienced from the trip. What we didn’t expect was the longevity of the impact. The power and beauty of this experience is not just a short term burst. It is a life development that has changed who she is, and in

ways so profound we are deeply grateful.”

- Susan, Parent

Expanding Impact Shoulder-to-Shoulder

Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder has a scalable model of educating the next generation of global leaders as global citizens. Our goal is

to broaden impact through expansion of courses (settings), partici-pants, and programs. With your support, shoulder-to-shoulder with

students, teachers, and NGOs, we can achieve the most powerful impact on the planet – an ethically engaged cohort of future leaders.

Homestays deepen students’ appreciation for how the five lenses manifest in daily lives.

“I learned what it meant to be a global citizen z- a person who is patient, humble, and persistent, who treats every person with the same amount of dignity and respect; a

person who not only takes the initiative to fix problems of social injustice but also inspires others to help.”

- Sierra, Student

Scaling Impact

The infrastructure is in place. The data is compelling. Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder is poised to scale its global impact.

We intend to raise a total of seven million dollars for two major capital and endowment initiatives: growth and scholarship.

Growth funds will include research and development. We have yet to find a program that combines our unique blend of traditional and experiential education with an integrated, global constituency, in service of global citizenship. Careful R&D will not only serve our mission but help us inform educational practices across the globe.

Scholarship funding is critical to our mission. Clearly, the next generation of global leaders - global citizens - is not limited by their current socioeconomic status. Our four-year goal is to provide 25% of our programming budget to defray tuition costs. Effectively, this results in 2.5 full scholarships per course, to be distributed as needs demand. Our long-term goal is to offer a complete “needs-blind” admission policy.

“I know that my sandals of

experience are hardly even dirty at

this point, much less at all worn out.

I have a lot left to learn, understand,

and do before I can truly become a

global citizen. But I hope that I am

headed in the right direction, moral

compass and torch of passion in

hand, moving forward one step at a

time.”

- Haille, Student

An Intelligent Investment

We believe that educating the next generation of secondary students as global citizens is an intelligent

investment for creating a just, sustainable planet. Advancing the mission of Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder

is advancing our collective future.

Our NGOs report that the spirit SStS students bring to communities has a magical impact that endures well after we leave, inspiring locals to continue projects and view young people from the industrialized world as allies.

Join Us Shoulder-to-ShoulderStudents Shoulder-to-Shoulder’s Global Citizenship Funds have been created for visionary philanthropists who believe that the next generation of global leaders, today’s secondary students around the world, ought to have an education that inspires them to engage in

global citizenship. Our giving opportunities invite you to be “shoulder-to-shoulder” in a profound educational vision.

GLOBAL VISION FUND

Endowed funds ensure

growth and access in

perpetuity. Both funds

include namingrights.

A one-time Sponsored

gifts provide critical support for immediate

growth initiatives

and access.

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ENDOWED SCHOLARSHIP FUND

ENDOWEDGLOBAL VISION FUND

The devices we use for recording impact, in this case a video recorder, seem to strengthen bonds of trust we work to create in every community.

How to Contribute

We invite you to join us as a funder through one of four donation structures. Gifts can be made electronically through our website or via a check written to the address on the back page of this document. Please feel invited to meet with anyone on our staff about your interests in our work. Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder is a 501(c)3 nonprofit.

Global Vision Funds

The Global Vision Fund offers a donation opportunity to support general operations of Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder. The following incremental scale is a contribution guide:

$25 $100 $500 $1000 $2,500 $5000 $10,000 Above

Scholarship Fund

SStS students are curious, cooperative, globally-minded, perseverant, collaborative, and adventurous. They also come from all economic backgrounds. Contributing to the SStS Scholarship Fund supports our effort to select the most promising global leaders of tomorrow, even if they need financial support today. The following approximate costs for our courses may help you determine the impact you would like to have in the form of a one-time gift:

USA South American Southeast Asia Africa Central Asia$1000 $4500 $5500 $6500 $7000

SCHOOL

Knowing Your Impact

All endowment funders receive a yearly report, created by students and staff, that shows concrete evidence of the fund’s impact. Funders endowing more than one scholarship will receive an equivalent number of reports. Ten endowed scholarships, for example, would result in reports from ten course sites. Imagine sending this report, replete with photos and video – to your immediate and extended families, friends, and employees as an illustration of your contribution to global citizenship!

Endowed Scholarship Fund

The Endowed Scholarship Fund is a naming opportunity that provides funding, in perpetuity, for students who would not otherwise be able to participate in a SStS course. Endowed Contribution Scholarship Award $150,000 One full scholarship$450, 000 Three full scholarships$750,000 Five full scholarships $1,500,000 Ten full scholarships

Please contact our executive director, Bob Bandoni, to learn more about our endowed scholarship fund.

Endowed Global Vision Fund

The Endowed Global Vision Fund offers the naming rights to an endowed fund that supports general operations. These named gifts will also help us fund critical research and development. Please contact Bob Bandoni, our executive director, to discuss ways to structure a gift that will influence the world in perpetuity.

To contact Bob Bandoni email rbandoni@shouldertoshoulder.com.

“We may look different and have different backgrounds,

but we all share this common interconnectedness that has endless potential to make a

difference in the world. When this bond comes together, the force is

unstoppable.”

- Ellen, Student

Students Shoulder-to-Shoulder3000 Booth Falls RoadVail, CO 81657Phone: 970.306.7797E-mail: info@shouldertoshoulder.com

WWW.SHOULDERTOSHOULDER.COMEDUCATING THE NEXT GENERATION OF GLOBAL CITIZENS

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