Day 4: 17/07/2019
On the final day of the summit our students attended the High Level Political Forum side event focusing on Youth action and using the creative arts to share the message of the Global Goals. We heard speeches from UNICEF Executive Director, Henrietta Fore, Film Director and founder of Project Everyone, Richard Curtis, and student winner of the UNICEF Comic Competition, Rezka, all of which were incredibly inspiring. It is clear that young people's voices are strong and should be heard, and that important people in positions of power are becoming more willing to listen and take action.
Nina did an amazing job as a panelist at the HLPF, sharing her views on why it is important that schools are safe and free from all kinds of violence, and why she became an activist - a person making changes in her school and community. She was joined in her panel by other NAE students and Charles Young, a 23 year old youth activist in Jamaica who has been involved in developing UNICEF's Youth Manifesto.
Jenny, Ky Dan, Nguyen, Ha Minh, Lily and Eugene all took part in the Sing for Hope project which opened the event. They were in a choir who sang a song with the message 'Dream Big, Speak Loud' which was very poignant. They were accompanied by a pianist playing the SDG Superhero decorated piano which is being donated by Sing for Hope to a park in New York city.
In the evening we traveled to the Juilliard School where we held our Gala Dinner. Eugene and SungWoo gave inspiring speeches about the work of NAE students towards the Global Goals and with the message that adults need to listen to young people and take action. We also had performances from Juilliard alumni and were joined by representatives from the NAE collaborations: Juilliard, MIT and UNICEF. The students enjoyed their final evening together with a mixture of emotions.