World Savvy

🎉ANNOUNCING OUR NEW CEO! Following a comprehensive search, we’re thrilled to announce that Hamse Warfa has been appointed World Savvy’s new CEO. We are confident that Hamse’s exceptional leadership and vision will guide World Savvy into a new chapter of growth and impact.

Hamse brings over 25 years of experience across federal and state governments, philanthropy, and the private sector. And his unique journey—from a child refugee from Somalia to a U.S. presidential appointee—has equipped him with the lived experiences and insights needed to lead World Savvy as we continue our mission to transform K-12 education for a diverse and interconnected world.

Learn more about Hamse and this exciting new chapter at https://buff.ly/3MFyBkG.

We’re getting ready for our AI in Education event this week! 🎉

Follow us as we host our first West Coast Critical Conversation! This event gathers EdTech leaders, teachers, and students to hear from experts who will explore how AI is revolutionizing teaching and learning, including Alex Kotran, Corey Crouch, Alisa Miller, Ezinne Nwankwo, Katherine Prince, and Laura Jeanne Penrod.

Why AI? 💻
AI is transforming teaching, learning, and practice at a rapid rate, making it more important than ever for K-12 education to center the 21st-century skills necessary for future graduates to thrive in college, career, and life in this changing world.

At World Savvy, we believe in the power of global competence–the skills, attitudes, and dispositions necessary to thrive in an ever-changing and complex world. This event will highlight the impact of AI in our schools and provide a platform for students, educators, school leaders, and experts to address the challenges and areas of opportunity both inside and outside of the classroom.

Key questions we’ll tackle:
⭐ How might AI affect educational equity and attainment?
⭐ What role will teachers play in cultivating critical inquiry, including addressing covert bias, in developing AI literacy?
⭐ What effect will AI have on social-emotional learning and school culture, connection, and belonging?

A big thank you to our event sponsor, Google, and our partners, AI Education Project, Digital Promise, and KnowledgeWorks Foundation, for making this event possible.

It’s been a blast this week celebrating our new school and district partners! We’d also like to take a moment to celebrate a few of our partners who are continuing their Comprehensive School Partnerships with World Savvy this year. A big thank you to all of the educators, leaders, and administrators at these partner schools who are doing incredible work to turn their learning environments into ones that are inclusive, adaptive, and preparing all students to thrive in an ever-changing and interconnected world! Special shout outs to:

⭐ Connect Community Charter School
⭐ George Washington High School
⭐ Hanger Hall School
⭐ John F. Kennedy High School
⭐ Sejong Academy
⭐ St. Anthony - New Brighton Schools

We also wanted to express our gratitude to everyone at our continuing partner schools for your thoughtful feedback on last school year’s end-of-year surveys. This comment especially made our day:

💬“There isn't enough time in the day for me to adequately explain what coaching with my [World Savvy] Professional Learning Facilitator (PLF) has meant to me. My PLF, more than anyone I've ever met, has a way of challenging me and holding the bar high. They have patience on my less-than-stellar days while holding me accountable for the work. They match my level of engagement and ALWAYS put my learning first. They are masters of their craft and I look forward to working with them this year.”

Southeast Service Cooperative is another new partner we’re looking forward to working with this year!👏 Together, we’ll be hosting a Changemaker Hub, our day-long design-thinking experience. These events give students, educators, school leaders, and community members from across districts the opportunity to come together across difference to explore an essential question: How can we transform education to ensure that all young people have a safe and inclusive school where they develop the essential skills they need to thrive in a complex and interconnected world?

We love hosting Changemaker Hubs because they give others a glimpse into the greater work that we do with schools and districts and invite students in to lead change in their learning communities. And we’re excited to work with Southeast Service Cooperative for the first time, which serves over 100 public and private school districts, cities, counties, and other organizations in the southeast region of Minnesota.

Can’t wait to get started on a new Leading for Global Competence cohort this year with one of our partners, Farmington Area Public Schools, ISD 192! This program is how we support the creation of adaptive and nimble school communities at a leadership level. Through engaging workshops, insightful dialogue, immersive exploration, and exclusive frameworks and resources, we work directly with school and district leaders to develop action steps toward a future-ready education for their students.

One reason we’re so excited to work with Farmington Area Schools is their mission of graduating students who embody the following:

- Passion for continuous growth
- Honor diverse perspectives
- Personal reflection
- Agency with empathy
- Radical trust in self and others

These dispositions and abilities align themselves incredibly well with our unique approach to education centered on global competence, so we know our work is going to resonate and further support their mission. 🙌

We’re so excited to highlight some of our newest school partners in our Comprehensive School Partnership program! These schools are embarking on a 3-year journey that encompasses 1:1 coaching with teachers, workshops that introduce new frameworks, a deep dive into global competence and how to integrate it into the classroom, access to a library of resources that empower students to steer their own academic endeavors, and so much more.

Welcome to the World Savvy network and thank you for your commitment to transforming your learning environments so that students develop the skills and dispositions they need to thrive in their communities and future careers.

⭐ Aim Academy of Science & Technology
⭐ Howell Public School District (Michigan)
⭐ St. Anthony - New Brighton Schools including Early Childhood Programs, Wilshire Park Elementary School, St. Anthony Village High School (Minnesota)

Learn more about our Comprehensive School Partnerships: https://buff.ly/3JwKTdB

💥Follow us this week as we celebrate many of our incredible school partners!💥

Each day, we’ll be highlighting some of our new and continuing partners participating in our Comprehensive School Partnerships, Leading for Global Competence Cohorts, and Changemaker Hubs. These schools, districts, and education service agencies deserve a major shout out because they’re putting in the hard work to transform leadership and teaching practices, all in the service of creating learning environments that are inclusive, adaptive, and prepare all students to thrive in an ever-changing and interconnected world.

If you’re new to our work, scroll through to see our programs at a glance or dive deeper here: https://buff.ly/3sxlw6y

World Savvy is excited to welcome Joy DesMarais-Lanz this week as our new Chief Operating Officer (COO)! Prior to joining the team, Joy served as an Executive Director at Synergos, an Association Management Company where she led a portfolio of 13 association and not-for-profit clients. Before her tenure at Synergos, she held leadership positions at HOBY (Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership), the National Youth Leadership Council, and three institutions of higher education. Praised for her commitment to mentorship, Joy invests her time and energy in nurturing talent, providing guidance, and empowering others.

We recently got to sit down with Joy and hear more about her story. Follow along with us to learn more about her, her journey to World Savvy, and her connection to our mission to educate and engage youth to learn, work, and thrive as responsible global citizens: https://buff.ly/3X1h7Fn

What great energy in the room as we kicked off Profile of a Graduate development work with Lakeport Unified School District in California! Learn more about our Profile of a Graduate work here: https://buff.ly/3A94wXF

World Savvy is thrilled to announce our collaboration with Lakeport Unified School District which have been awarded significant state funding to increase student access to careers and higher education. As part of this initiative, World Savvy will be working closely with Lakeport Unified School District schools to integrate our programs into the educational pathways supported by the Golden State Pathways Program. Our partnership aims to enhance the career and college readiness of Lakeport Unified School District students by providing inclusive, student-centered, and future-ready learning experiences.

Learn more about our partnership:

World Savvy Partners with California Lakeport Unified School District to Enhance Career and College Readiness World Savvy is thrilled to announce our collaboration with California Lakeport Unified School District, which have been awarded significant state funding to increase student access to careers and higher education. This funding is part of the Golden State Pathways Program, an initiative established t...

In just over 5 weeks, we’ll be tackling the buzz-worthy topic of AI in education at our first Critical Conversation event hosted on the West Coast! And we’re especially honored to co-host it with Google in partnership with aiEDU, Digital Promise, and KnowledgeWorks Foundation

We can’t wait to hear what insights emerge from these experts leading the charge on AI in education! Our featured panelists will include:

⭐ Alex Kotran, Co-Founder & CEO, aiEDU
⭐ Corey Crouch, Chief Program Officer, AI for Education
⭐ Dana Mortenson, Co-Founder & CEO, World Savvy
⭐ Ezinne Nwankwo, PhD Student and Organizer, Black in AI
⭐ Katherine Prince, Vice President of Strategic Foresight, KnowledgeWorks
⭐ Laura Jeanne Penrod, 2024 Nevada State Teacher of the Year, Clark County School District

If you’re interested in attending on Sept. 12, please email Harben Porter at [email protected].

Later this month, the World Savvy team is thrilled to welcome the latest addition to our team: Allison Aliaga, our new Chief Growth Officer (CGO)! Allison joins World Savvy after over a decade supporting school districts and state-level education efforts at TNTP, and more recently, serving as Vice President at New Teacher Center. Her career began in the classroom, teaching elementary school, and later working as an instructional coach supporting teachers’ literacy practices.

We recently got to sit down with Allison and hear more about her story. Follow along with us to learn more about her, her journey to World Savvy, and her connection to our mission to educate and engage youth to learn, work, and thrive as responsible global citizens: https://buff.ly/3A4r0ch

We were thrilled to be a part of this amazing event. Our friends at Ulster BOCES always put students at the center of everything they do—one of the many reasons we love partnering with them. https://buff.ly/3zB4Ga9

How to organize a student-led sustainability conference To host a student conference, focus on putting the kids out front and allow the adults to show up and support them organically.

We’ve reached a major milestone! Ella Baker Global Studies and Humanities in Minneapolis has become our first school partner to complete all three years of our Comprehensive School Partnership (CSP)! 🎉

Through our work together, Ella Baker has successfully realigned their curriculum into four thematic units centered around key global competencies. Showcasing students’ understanding of the unit’s content and their growth in each of the global competencies, each grade completes a portfolio artifact at the end of every quarter. Each portfolio task is rooted in a rubric that encourages students and educators to reflect on their progress and share with their peers and caregivers. By reimagining how learning happens in their classrooms, Ella Baker students are getting opportunities every day to develop global competence–the skills, attitudes, and behaviors necessary to thrive in an ever-changing and complex world.

When we first launched CSPs, it was with the intention to create space for long-term change that is sustainable throughout a school or district–and ultimately across K-12 education. We’re so proud to see the transformation at Ella Baker and to celebrate the culmination of our first completed CSP at their end-of-year portfolio showcase. We couldn’t have asked for better partners! Looking ahead to next year, we’re thrilled to embark on Year 3 of our CSP with Hanger Hall School in North Carolina, and to continue this journey with several other schools entering Years 1 and 2 of partnership.🙌

Thank you to Holly Kleppe, Hanna Haileyesus, Laura Guerrero, and Jessica Grabe at Ella Baker for their leadership and support during this partnership.

Our Critical Conversation series is coming to California this September! We’re so excited to take this event to the West Coast for the first time. And even more excited that we’ll be cohosting it with Google on their campus in Redwood City, CA! Once again, we’ll be bringing together education leaders, industry experts, teachers, and students for a thought-provoking discussion–this time on the transformative power of AI in education.

If you’re interested in attending, please contact us here: https://buff.ly/3XEhvu6

At World Savvy, we firmly believe that K-12 education is the bedrock of a thriving, multi-ethnic democracy. In this national election year, amidst growing polarization and challenges to our democratic institutions, our work to empower young people has never been more important.

This is why we are thrilled to announce the launch of our Thriving Democracy Initiative. This initiative underscores our commitment to supporting schools and communities in cultivating the skills and attitudes necessary for positive civic engagement. Our work equips students with skills for critical thinking, perspective-taking, and evidence-based judgment—essential skills for navigating our diverse and interconnected world.

The statistics illustrate the urgency of this work: a Harvard University poll shows that 52% of youth believe our democracy is in trouble. PEN America recorded a 33% increase in book bans last year. The Human Rights Campaign is tracking over 400 anti-LGBTQ+ bills nationwide, and government officials are pushing more than 750 measures restricting teaching about race and racism. Alarmingly, 80% of partisans believe the opposing party poses a threat to America’s existence.

These figures underscore the urgency of our mission. Through our Thriving Democracy Initiative, we are committed to working with new K-12 school and district partners to ensure students graduate ready for full participation and leadership in our diverse communities. By fostering values and attitudes that strengthen our democracy, we can collectively address and solve the pressing challenges of our time.

Join us in this vital effort to prepare the next generation for active, informed, and engaged citizenship. Together, we can sustain and renew our democracy.

https://buff.ly/4eFsrxA

Pride Month is a time to celebrate love, diversity, and equality. But it's also a time to acknowledge the challenges our LGBTQ+ community faces, including in our schools.

At World Savvy, we believe in a world where everyone can live authentically and without fear. Unfortunately, the reality is starkly different for many. Recent years have seen a troubling rise in polarization and legal movements against LGBTQ+ rights.

Research shows that in 2023 alone, over 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced across the United States, targeting everything from healthcare access to education and even the right to self-identify. [Human Rights Campaign, 2023]. This legislative onslaught has real and harmful impacts on the mental and physical well-being of LGBTQ+ individuals.

Our mission at World Savvy is to empower the next generation of leaders to bridge divides and create inclusive communities. We stand with the LGBTQ+ community and commit to working with our school and district partners to foster an environment where every voice is heard and valued.

Let's come together this Pride Month to support, uplift, and protect our LGBTQ+ friends, family, and colleagues. Together, we can build a world where love always wins.

Another amazing Changemaker Hub is in the books! We brought together over 200 students, educators, and leaders from 15 school districts in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley area to reflect on and reimagine K-12 education through thought-provoking activities, discussions, and presentations! We had a blast learning together with this group of forward thinkers and are so excited for them to take this energy back to their school communities.

“I think the future of teaching and learning is one that really incorporates all perspectives. Whether it be students, parents, administrators, or parents, we all need to hear all the different perspectives so we can better prepare students for the future, and inspire them to be changemakers and make a difference in the community.” – Elsa, 11th grade student at Parkland High School

This Changemaker Hub was funded by a generous grant from porticusglobal and organized in collaboration with our partners at the Lehigh University College of Education. Thank you to all who made this day possible! We are also so appreciative of our friends at the Lehigh University College of Education Study Council, including William Gaudelli, Brian Osborne, and Elizabeth Taglioli, for cohosting this event with us for the Lehigh Valley community.

A huge thank you to all who attended our event on May 16, ‘Understanding & Amplifying the Power and Talent of Young People: A Critical Conversation with World Savvy.' It was incredible to have students and teachers from our partnering schools Prior Lake High School, St. Anthony - New Brighton Schools, Sejong Academy, and Ella Baker Global Studies and Humanities join us for this important and vital conversation.

The event included a powerful keynote from Mark C. Perna alongside a discussion at tables with leaders, educators, funders, and, most importantly, young people. Learning about what is important and compelling to young people when it comes to their education and their lives is something that will impact us all going forward, and both adults and students at the tables concluded the discussion by committing to some small steps they could take in light of these insights.

This event would not have been possible without our dedicated and thoughtful supporters and staff, including our generous sponsors Bremer Bank, Youthprise, Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Margaret A Cargill Foundation, Mortenson, Jessica & Matt Scherer, Mike and Christina Huck Family Fund, Susan Corridoni, and Virginia Mills.

🍎We’re wrapping up Teacher Appreciation Week with one more outstanding teacher we’d like you to meet! Emma Carlson is a Middle School Special Education Teacher at St. Anthony - New Brighton Schools. In her first year of educator coaching with World Savvy, she used her social studies block to develop students' leadership and self-awareness, leaning into student-led circles and redesigning class content to center students' talents and passions for filmmaking. 👏

During this filmmaking project, students delegated roles to write a script, plan costumes and props, and complete storyboarding. Next, they’ll be filming using stop-motion techniques and live actors! After each class, they discuss how they’ve used their strengths to collaborate and how they can improve in the future. While debriefing, they practice the global competency of demonstrating self-awareness about identity and culture as well as sensitivity and respect for differences. Their final product will be a film created in collaboration with SPEAK MPLS to be released on public television! Kudos to Emma for embracing her students’ creativity in the process of embedding global competence into their learning.🙌

To all teachers, thank you for the amazing work you do in your classrooms every day! We’re so honored to support you 1:1 in our school partnerships and help you build the capacity to nurture positive student relationships while equipping them with global competencies that will help them thrive in an ever-changing, complex world.🌍

🍎 We’re continuing our Teacher Appreciation Week celebrations today, shouting out Yejin Hong, an Upper School Teacher at Sejong Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota. With humor, playfulness, humility, compassion, solidarity, and ambition, Yejin weaves together so many threads of her life in the way she shows up for her students, many of whom are from refugee backgrounds. Her background in journalism brings a unique perspective to her courageous and fun approach to helping students learn.

During her first year of coaching with World Savvy, Yejin empowered her students to give feedback on her teaching while reflecting on their learning. Their ideas about how to support their learning through Korean language play on tech platforms surprised her and even challenged her notions about the role of technology and play in the classroom. She embraced some of their suggestions and learning outcomes increased! 🙌

Through this exercise, Yejin demonstrated some of the essential skills, attitudes, and behaviors that are core to global competence, including expressing curiosity and humility, embracing new ideas and multiple perspectives, and modeling resilience in new situations. Keep up the amazing work Yejin🎉

Join World Savvy to reimagine the future of K-12 education! Are you a mission-focused, seasoned, strategic, and process-minded leader with experience scaling an organization, leading an executive management team, and developing a performance culture among a group of diverse, talented individuals? Then you just might be our next Chief Operating Officer. You can learn more about the role and apply here: https://buff.ly/3Ww9vLp!

“Powerful.” That’s how school leaders describe Mark C. Perna and his talks on Gen Z. We can’t wait for him to take the stage at this year’s intergenerational Critical Conversations event, where he will guide education and community leaders to better understand Gen Z and how we can support them. Following the talk, youth and adults from across our community will come together to share ideas on how we can cultivate systems that support and empower Gen Z to change the world.

RSVP to join us in Minneapolis on May 16: https://buff.ly/3Uhy4tV.

🍎Happy Teacher Appreciation Week! 🍎Throughout our school partnerships, we’ve worked with thousands of amazing teachers. And truly, we’re impressed by every single one of them. This week, we’d like to take the opportunity to highlight three in particular who have embraced global competence to transform their classrooms this year.

Today we’re shouting out Treyvon Manning, a grade 1-2 teacher at Connect Community Charter School in Redwood City, CA. He cultivates a welcoming and rigorous classroom that centers strong student relationships and collaboration. He always encourages students to commit to the process of continuous learning and reflection while balancing high expectations with lots of support. Because of this, his students approach academic challenges with enthusiasm and joy. Happy Teacher Appreciation Week, Treyvon!

It’s a wrap on another successful Changemaker Hub! We’re so thankful to our friends at Saginaw ISD, including Superintendent Jeffrey Collier, for helping us host such an amazing Changemaker Hub for Michigan’s Saginaw community. Nearly 140 students, educators, school leaders, and community members from 8 districts came together to collaboratively ideate and reflect on how to build inclusive school environments that allow ALL students to thrive–in school, and as adults in the future.

We were so encouraged by everyone’s enthusiasm as they took on a full day of activities including a school reflection, intergenerational roundtable discussions, educator professional development, and a project where they reimagined new ways of teaching and learning.

“A day like this is important because it really gives us a new perspective on what we can do to help better the education system.” – Noah, 10th-grade student at Heritage High School

This Changemaker Hub was funded by a generous grant from porticusglobal and organized in collaboration with anchor partner Saginaw Intermediate School District. The event was also supported by local community volunteers from Saginaw Community Foundation, Saginaw Valley State University, Teach For America - Detroit, Delta College, Flint Board of Education, and Nexteer Automotive.

Yesterday’s Changemaker Hub in Michigan with Saginaw Intermediate School District was featured by the local media outlet WNEMTV5news! 🙌 We love that they captured this sentiment from Kelcei Schultz, a participating senior from Carrollton High School:

“We’re here with other educators and people from our community and we’re discussing things that we want to see changed, and they’re listening to us, they’re taking notes, they’re engaging. They seem to be very understanding. It makes me feel like I’m seen and the other people who are sharing are seen as well and hopefully that changes are to come.”

‘Changemakers’ work to improve education in Saginaw Co. Over a hundred Saginaw County students and community partners gathered on Tuesday, April 30 to be “changemakers” for the future of education.

Fox 66 Mid-Michigan Now stopped by our Changemaker Hub today with Saginaw ISD! Over 125 students, educators, school leaders, and community members have come together from across Saginaw County, Michigan to collectively explore this essential question: How can we revolutionize education so that every young person has access to an inclusive and empowering learning environment and is equipped with the essential skills to thrive in an interconnected world?

Saginaw explores evolving education at Changemaker Hub event Over 125 people are exploring how education is evolving in Saginaw on Tuesday.

Last year’s Critical Conversation event was unforgettable! We’re so excited to once again host education and community leaders for a unique, intergenerational discussion. Our keynote speaker and generational expert Mark C. Perna will kick off the event with a thought-provoking talk, “Understanding and Amplifying the Power and Talent of Young People.”

Afterward, youth and adults from across our community will engage in a dynamic discussion, igniting ideas for how we can cultivate systems that support Gen Z’s tenacity, creativity, and potential to change the world.

RSVP to join us in Minneapolis on May 16: https://buff.ly/3Uhy4tV.

Join World Savvy to reimagine the future of K-12 education! We're seeking a results-oriented Chief Growth Officer with an entrepreneurial mindset who can execute growth strategies that drive significant and sustainable scaling. This role oversees our organization's marketing, communications, and revenue-generating functions. An ideal candidate has 10+ years of advancement or sales experience (preferably in K-12 education), 5+ years of management experience, and demonstrated success in the cultivation and stewardship of major gifts for a nonprofit organization.

If you're interested or know someone who would be a good fit, learn more about the role here: https://buff.ly/443nfPe

Welcome to the team! Thalia Theodore Washington joins World Savvy as our Executive Director - Eastern Region and has an extensive background in education and nonprofit leadership. She began her career as a public elementary school teacher in NYC and developed into leadership roles at nonprofits focused on supporting teachers and students in high-need communities. We're excited to harness her commitment to empowering the next generation and her passion for driving equity and access in education!