Broadening Horizons: A Passage Through the 21st Century

EF Global Citizen Scholarship Itinerary

 

Tour Highlights and Details

 

Overnight stays:    

Shanghai	(4)
Beijing	(4)

 

Comprehensive sightseeing tours led by an expert local guide of the following:

Shanghai

Hangzhou

Beijing

 

We have our Winners

After a long time of reading through many excellent essays we difficultly narrowed them down to our top 20 finalist.  We then called each one of our toppers and asked them follow up questions about their current education system and the strengths that they would bring to the tour. 

Through these answers we built a team whose personalities and expeinces complement and simulaneously challenge each other into healthy discussion.  We are excited to have the following people on tour with us this summer. 

The 2010 Global Citizen Scholarship Winners are:

Divyansh Agarwal from Mahindra United World College, Pune

Devika Luniya from Ecole Mondiale World School, Mumbai

Tarun Nambiar from Vidya Niketan School, Bangalore

Abhishek Rania from Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, Kolkata

Shivang Sethi from Delhi Public School RK Puram, New Delhi

Abhijeet Singh from Vallabh Ashram’s MGM Amin & VN Savani School, Valsad

Tarunn Toprani from the Calorx School, Ahmedabad

Krishna Gohil from Navrachana Higher Secondary School, Vadodara

Karuna Kadam from the International School of Bangalore, Bangalore

Swati Garg from the Ryan International School Goregaon, Mumbai

Thank you again for everyone who participated!   Be on the look out for other great updates from EF as well as info about the 2011 GCS compeition next year to a new exciting location!

Thank you for all of your Essays and Excitement!

Thank you to everyone who submitted their essays!  Both our Delhi office and our Boston offices are still in the process of reading and grading each essay.  We will be calling each of our top 25 finalists during the week of 5-9 April.  The following week, we will be confirming the 10 Winners and posting their names and essays on the blog.

Good Luck Everyone!  
 

Global Citizen Spotlight: Lucy Chen

Lucy Chen is a senior at the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur in Villanova, Pennsylvania. She is an active member of the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia, student council, and the Varsity Mathletes team. She is also the president of the Hi-Q team and National Honor Society, the co-managing editor of Teen Zone, co-captain of Reading Olympics, and treasurer of the Forensics Club, in which she competes regularly at the state level. In her free time, she loves to oil paint, perform on the piano and clarinet, and play on her school's varsity tennis team

Global Citizen Spotlight: Lucy Chen

Global Citizen Spotlight: Lindsay Brown

Over the next few months, guest columnists will be posting on Following the Equator the EF's American Educational Tour Blog. Our first guest columnist is Lindsay Brown.

Lindsay is a high school senior at Fair Haven Union High School. She is a student ambassador, Girl Scout and member of the student council. She also plays tennis and field hockey. Last summer, she traveled to Europe as an EF Global Citizen. Here, she recounts her experiences. 

Click here for Linday's full story: Global Citizen Spotlight: Lindsay Brown.

EF Education First: American Red Cross Online Donation Site

Please join in the EF Education First Employee Giving Campaign to support the American Red Cross.

EF's mission to "break down barriers of language, culture and geography" is more important than ever in a time of crisis. As the devastating earthquake and its terrible aftermath have wrecked havoc in Haiti, EF pledges to match employee, student and customer donations up to USD 100,000 for disaster relief in Haiti.

http://bit.ly/EFdonation

Scholarship Topic Released!

Happy New Year!

The topic for the Global Citizens Scholarship:

“As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, skills such as communication, innovation, leadership and critical thinking are more important than ever before. How could spending 14,000 minutes of your life on a tour to China equip you with the aptitude to compete in a world with no borders? What future opportunities could become available to you as a result of refining skills such as these?"

Scholarship Application Process

Students have until 28 February 2010 to complete steps 1-3 below:

Step 1: 2 Million Minutes: A Global Examination, is a film that documents the experiences that two students from India, the United States and China have during the 2 million minutes of their high school careers. It sheds light on educational expectations and responsibilities from the perspective of their teachers, parents and themselves. It also causes deeper discussions about how each culture is preparing their children for the future.

View the 2 Million Minutes: A Global Examination trailer

Step 2: Next, for a chance to travel on a FREE EF tour* students will have to prepare an essay (suggested length - 1500 words) responding to the prompt below:

“As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, skills such as communication, innovation, leadership and critical thinking are more important than ever before. How could spending 14,000 minutes of your life on a tour to China equip you with the aptitude to compete in a world with no borders? What future opportunities could become available to you as a result of refining skills such as these? ”

Step 3: The EF Global Citizen Scholarship essay contest is open to Indian students 9th-11th standard and will be selected by EFs Education Department based on the quality of essay. Interested students will have until 28 February 2010 to complete and submit their essays to GCScholarship@ef.com.  Students will be notified of their status in early April.

Email Submission Details:

When submitting your essay, please copy the information below into the body of your email and fill in the required blanks.  Also, make sure to attach your essay to the email.

 

Email Subject Line:  Global Citizens Scholarship Essay Submission

Name:

Grade:

Address:

Phone Number:

School Name:

Name of Teacher or Counselor who reviewed my work:

*All expense paid tour includes:, airfare, program fee, daily breakfast and dinners, obtaining a VISA, all admission fees and tips for the tour director. Not included are costs associated with applying for or renewing passports, on-tour lunches, as well as money needed for snacks and souvenirs.

2 Million Minutes: A Global Examination

 
 In 2007 a film was produced documenting two children from India, The United States and China and detailed educational expectations and responsibilities from the perspective of their teachers, parents and themselves.  It discusses the critical questions of how each culture is preparing their children for the future and how these decisions and social pressures are going to shape the outlook of their home countries.  

“Regardless of nationality, as soon as a student completes the 8th grade, the clock starts ticking. From that very moment the child has approximately - 

…Two Million Minutes until high school graduation…Two Million Minutes to build their intellectual foundation…Two Million Minutes to prepare for college and ultimately career…Two Million Minutes to go from a teenager to an adult.

How a student spends their Two Million Minutes - in class, at home studying, playing sports, working, sleeping, socializing or just goofing off -- will affect their economic prospects for the rest of their lives.” 

-2 Million Minutes

In 2010 for EF’s annual Global Citizen Scholarship we are embarking on a deep cross-cultural journey to China this summer!  The winning students will be exploring the concept of education at a global level.  They will experience a new culture alongside like-minded students from the US while engaging in discussions with host students from the Chinese schools that they will be visiting.  While seeing the beautiful sites of Chinese culture and history the winners will be participating in thought provoking activities and working on developing a global educational platform to ensure cross cultural competitiveness for the future.  

Applicants must take a few minutes to view the trailer at http://www.2mminutes.com/

Once the scholarship recipients are selected they will have the opportunity to view this documentary in full and have the opportunity to discuss with students from China and the US whether they feel that the student chosen to represent them reflects their 2 million minutes in high schoo.

EF Global Classroom

EF Global Citizens 2009 speak about learning in a classroom without borders