Anat Almzayyen

Ecuador, Japan, Germany, Thailand, and many others were just countries we studied in geography class in a limited classroom at my old high school in Palestine. We were exclusively taught about different cultures and the rest was for our imagination to finish. The Palestinian system told me what I should think and that I am obligated to think about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict in a certain way otherwise I will be an outsider. But four years ago, I joined THINK Global school, where I lived in 3 different countries each year. Tanzania, India, Japan, and the USA don’t have to be lines drawn inside my geography book --they are now my high school destinations. I will now be part of that culture, learning about the history of the world in an open-air classroom. TGS managed to not only incorporate the countries we lived in into our history class, but also in our English, biology, math, and more. In normal high schools we only learn from our teachers; however, at TGS we learn from the students as well, as TGS has more than 20 nationalities. Ask questions, speak your mind, think, be respectful, and give hugs were Joann’s words that I will never forget nor stop using. At TGS I learnt that everyone is equal and that young people's voices matter and are heard. After I finished my journey with TGS I felt very different from my friends at home: I changed positively. As I started putting myself in someone else’s shoes and looking at things from their perspective, not only mine, I learnt to listen more, think critically, and ask lots of questions. I believed that I could make a change. Education at THINK Global School develops the idea of global citizens and generates leaders that will leave a positive imprint in this world.

Anat Almzayyen