Global Education Initiative Sparks Global-Local Connections

This past school year, the Pulitzer Center collaborated with students at Chicago's Walter Payton College Prep as part of a year-long Global Gateway initiative. To kickoff the program six Pulitzer Center journalists traveled to Chicago to present the global issues they have been reporting on. Students met with the journalists in small groups to explore local connections to these issues. The students identified specific topics and then, over the course of the academic year, investigated local manifestations of the issue in their community, and produced short documentaries on the topic. In the final stages of the project, Pulitzer Center journalists provided feedback on their works-in-progress. Below we have highlighted a selection of the student videos, each one inspired by a theme presented by Pulitzer Center journalists.

Sharon Schmickle presented Stalking a Wheat Killer, from the Food Insecurity gateway. The students focused on Chicago’s so-called food deserts, areas without adequate access to healthy food, in “The Fight Against Food Deserts in Chicago."

Bill Wheeler presented South Asia’s Troubled Waters, from the Downstream gateway. This inspired the students to explore recycling and green restaurants in “Green Metropolis”.

Lisa Biagiotti presented The Glass Closet, from the HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean gateway, which led this group of students to focus on HIV/AIDS in Chicago in “Opprobrium”.

Bill Wheeler also presented Haiti’s Reconstruction: Building Back Better, from the Fragile States gateway. In “End the Cycle,” the students looked at the impact of a crime cycle on a Chicago neighborhood.

Inspired by Meredith May's project, Nepal: Olga’s Girls from the Women Children Crisisgateway, students chose to report on dwindling art programs in Chicago schools, in “Blank Canvases”.

Sean Gallagher presented, Desertification in China and China’s Disappearing Wetlands, from the Downstream gateway. This provided a departure point for students to explore the pollution of the Chicago River and the movement to re-reverse the river in “Reversing the Trend”.

Dawn Shapiro's film The Edge of Joy, from the Dying for Life gateway, inspired students to look at the importance of prenatal education in “Giving Birth to Death”.

The Pulitzer Center and our team of journalists were delighted to work with these students. Their hard work has brought them into the global conversation on pressing global issues. We are proud to share their videos with a wide audience as part of our own commitment to raising awareness of these issues.

Thank you to Walter Payton College Prep and teachers Greg Wright, Kerry Catlin and Brandon Newton, our journalists, and the dedicated students who produced these films!