New York, NY – “I CAN – Design for Change” is an international school movement created by Kiran Bir Sethi from India and endorsed by the OIEC (Catholic International Education Office), the Educational Commission of USG-UISG (International Union Superiors General), among others. “I CAN – Design for Change” is already being introduced in over 460,000 Catholic Schools across the globe as an answer to the encyclical letter ‘Laudato Si’ by Pope Francis and to promote the environmental sustainability of our planet.
George Jackson Academy from Manhattan (NYC) will be the first Lasallian School of the United States to be involved in the international school program “I CAN – Design for Change”. This designation was determined by Br. Martin Montoya, the executive director of International Lasallian Institute for Sustainability of the Environment (ILISE), after meeting with teacher Mr. Zachary Herring, upper school science teacher.
The goal of “I CAN – Design for Change” is to empower students to say “I CAN”, put their ideas into action to protect the environment, and inspire others by telling their own stories of change. “I CAN – Design for Change” attempts to achieve this by using four methodology steps: Feel, Imagine, Do, and Share. Following this theme, students from George Jackson Academy will identify and try to engage environmental problems in their classrooms, school, or communities. Students will develop creative solutions that can make a quick impact, and develop a plan of action to affect change. At the end of the program, the students submit their stories to the website of “Design for Change” through text, photos, video, or slideshows.
International Lasallian Institute for Sustainability of the Environment (ILISE) would like to encourage to all Lasallian schools to be involved in this international movement “I CAN – Design for Change”. Since there are almost 1,000 Lasallian schools distributed among 80 countries, a real impact on the world can be made by embracing this methodology!