The team at United World College East Africa (Arusha campus) is hard at work building a robust programme for the 2023 AISA-GISS set to take place from 19 – 21 January 2023. This will be the first in-person, on-site AISA-GISS gathering since 2019, and UWC organizers are excited about welcoming up to 250 student and teacher delegates to their Tanzanian campus early in 2023.

“We’re very excited about hosting AISA-GISS this school year,” says Phil Bowen, Head of the UWC Arusha campus and one of two faculty event coordinators. “We have so many conversations at our school about sustainability and the opportunity to share those ideas and receive more ideas from visiting teams is generating a lot of energy.”

Christy Willett, Deputy Head of campus and the second faculty AISA-GISS coordinator agrees. “I’m excited about seeing our students step up and shine in leading this conference,” she says. “This will be the ultimate UWC experience.”

United World College has a unique mission and vision that aligns with the Global Issues Network principles that drive AISA’s Global Issues Service Summit. With 18 schools on four continents, the programming at UWC is meant to foster diversity, global mindsets and a commitment to service. The mission of UWC is to be “a global movement that makes education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and sustainable future.”

That makes the UWC 2023 AISA-GISS theme of “The Future is Now” even more poignant and purposeful. Registration will soon be available, along with a website to provide information about event details. When registration opens, teachers are advised to take advantage of the early bird registration window to ensure spots at the conference.

“I anticipate there will be keen interest in attending AISA-GISS this year because the last few years have featured virtual events,” says AISA Service Learning Advisor LeeAnne Lavender. “I would recommend teachers start thinking now about what group of students might want to attend so they can register their groups as soon as registration is available.”

The conference will feature key AISA-GISS components like small group sustainability teams, keynote speakers, panel presentations, student workshops, social and networking events and a service day. Teachers will have the opportunity to engage in several professional learning sessions while students participate in sustainability teams. Sessions for educators will be designed to advance service learning and global citizenship approaches for classrooms and programs.

Taking a student team to an AISA-GISS event will inspire your students to think and dream bigger about their own capacity as changemakers and about what they can do on your campus and in your communities to create positive, purposeful change. The conferences create lasting memories for delegates and ripple effects on campuses throughout the continent.

The UWC team is also putting together information about possible nature and cultural experiences teams could choose to do before or after the conference. Tanzania is a beautiful country, and teams may want to spend a day or two enjoying the local context and learning more about Tanzania before heading home.

If you would like to empower your student leaders and deepen the global citizenship experiences on your campus, attending the 2023 AISA-GISS is a great way to get started.

If you have questions about the 2023 AISA-GISS, please contact Phil Bowen (philbowen@uwcea.org) or Christy Willett (christywillett@uwcea.org)