We are happy to say that the 2011 Great Lakes PeaceJam Youth Conference was a success!  On April 2^nd & 3^rd, high school PeaceJam students gathered from all over MI, IL, IN, and OH to hear from 1980 Nobel Peace Laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, and to engage in education and  service across Kalamazoo. Great Lakes PeaceJam Staff and Volunteers enjoyed the opportunity to engage and interact with PeaceJam youth and their advisors, as well as meet many new students.

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In 1974, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel became the coordinator of the Peace and Justice Service in Latin America (SERPAJ-AL) , an organized movement committed to the building of peace as the fruit of justice.  As part of SERPAJ, Adolfo often travels to confront repressive government regimes. Upon his departure from our PeaceJam Youth Conference on April 4^th , Adolfo flew to Honduras which has struggled with significant human rights violations as a result of a coup d’état  in 2009. Below is an excerpt from an interview conducted during his visit in Honduras.

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Here we are at the end of my tenure as Great Lakes PeaceJam Program Coordinator. The past two years have been a whirlwind that seems to be ending way too fast.  For those who are   unaware, my family and I will be relocating to Houston, TX this summer. As  excited as I am to begin this new phase of my life, the move is extremely bittersweet, as I will be leaving behind people and things that simply cannot be replaced.

I have truly enjoyed my time here and will enjoy cherished memories for years to come. More than anything else, I will never forget the hundreds of young people that I have had the opportunity to meet and learn from. When we say that we are engaging the future leaders of the world, it is an absolute fact and I am honored to say that I have met so many of them.

I would like to thank all of you; GLPJ Staff, Board, Taskforce, Volunteers, Advisors, Students, and Supporters for making my time here worth so much more than a title and a paycheck. Thank you for an inspiring two years full of hope, peace, change, and, yes, magic. I hope that all of your lives are as enriched today and tomorrow as mine has been simply by knowing all of you.

 As you know, our incredible Program Coordinator, Shannon Sykes, is heading south to Houston with her family to start a new adventure. As excited as we are for her new journey, the staff, volunteers and board will miss her greatly. We wish you and your family well Shannon!

With this announcement comes another:  we are now seeking a new, outstanding candidate to fulfill the role of Great Lakes PeaceJam Program Coordinator .  This is a fulltime position that ensures the continued growth, sustainability and highest quality of the PeaceJam program within the states of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

 A complete position description may be found at: www.greatlakespeacejam.org.  

 By Katie O’Brien

I’ve always been fascinated by magic, a shadowy figure pulling a rabbit out of a hat. I’d never question the logic; never ask to see the strings. As a mentor every year at the slam and conference I just assumed that the work the staff did was complete magic. It was not until I joined the office as their intern that I realized that the work was more strings than I could have imagined. The magic was in pulling everything off, in making everyone believe that our work was flawless and fantastical. It takes a lot of work to create the experience we hope everyone has had.

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In November of 2010, Great Lakes PeaceJam trained five Ambassador clubs on our new LGBTQ curriculum  modules: “Exploring the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Experience.” It was our goal to equip young people with the skills to identity and combat heterosexism and genderism with the same passion and skills that they use to combat racism, sexism, ableism, and other forms of oppression. 

 In order to  further support the clubs already piloting the program and to offer support to additional clubs, Seeding Change (the host organization of Great Lakes PeaceJam) is running a new online campaign BLITZ!  From May 16th – 23rd, we are aggressively seeking support funds through our GlobalGiving fund development website. Our goal is to raise $5,000 total by the month’s end.

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