Teacher and Student Resources to Prepare For Summit

Section 3: How to Prepare Students for the Summit

Section 4: Resources and Website Links

Section 3: How to Prepare For the Summit

Become Familiar with United Nations Treaties

Summit participants will create their own articles to contribute to a collaborative Youth Nuclear Peace Treaty, to be presented to the United Nations Non-proliferation Treaty Review Committee which meets in 2020. Faculty of Law students from the University of Manitoba will assist, but advance knowledge about the language and purpose of treaties will help students in their task.

Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

Research

Provide time for students to learn about the state of the nuclear world so they will arrive at the Summit with at least a basic level of knowledge. Have students begin their research by exploring widely, and then focusing on areas of personal interest.

Expectations

Discuss your expectations for them when they return home from the Summit (e.g., follow-up activities; taking action in the school or community, etc). This will help them be more focussed and open to the experiences at the Summit.

Review Summit Agenda

Let students know what to expect to help them prepare for the experiences. Establish expectations for student participation to ensure they maximize Summit learning and networking opportunities.

Encourage and Share Tips for Networking

Discuss what students might experience as they network with peers and professionals at the Summit in order to help make their experiences productive, e.g., reach out to new people; seek out like-minded peers; exchange email addresses or other social media information; ask questions; be curious.

Gather Ideas

Stress the importance of learning from their peers and others they meet, and to gather ideas and strategies to use when they return home, when they will begin the real work of helping to make the world nuclear arms-free.

Find Common Ground

Encourage students to engage in reflective, collaborative dialogue with their peers and professionals. Urge them to share their own knowledge, as well as their community experiences and perspectives. Help them understand the tasks they will be expected to take part in and contribute to at the Summit.

Keep a Journal

Encourage students to keep a written or electronic journal of their learning, experiences and their shifting attitudes – as they prepare for the Summit, during and at the end of each working day of the Summit, and after they return home and engage in actions and initiatives related to the Summit. Their journals will be a useful guide for follow-up work once they return home, and will help them stay in touch with the new people they meet at the Summit.

Explore Your Local Context

Provide time for students to research both current and historical use of nuclear energy in the local or surrounding community.

Encourage students to explore local attitudes regarding nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Have them interview peers, parents, politicians, policy makers and others in the community to uncover ideas and values that shape and drive local discussions and decisions about nuclear energy.

Consider holding a town hall meeting in the school or community, or surveying area residents to gather real data on local attitudes.

Make certain students explore various perspectives of issues related to nuclear power and the use of nuclear weapons. Become familiar with actions and initiatives in the local community so students have a balanced perspective of the attitudes held by citizens in their school and community.

Section 3: Resources and Website Links

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A Public Lecture by Dr. Emily Welty, presented by the Canadian School of Peacebuilding

Imagination, Courage, and Resilience

Amidst feelings of hopelessness in the face of injustice, inequality and systems of oppression, how can we create communities of imagination, joy and resistance? Join Dr. Emily Welty as she explores these intersections by reflecting on her Nobel Peace Prize experience as part of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. 

Dr. Emily Welty
Welty is an activist, academic and artist working in the field of Peace and Justice Studies. She is a professor and director of Peace and Justice Studies at Pace University in New York City and currently serves as the Vice Moderator of the World Council of Churches Commission on International Affairs.

She has worked on nuclear disarmament from the perspective of faith-based resistance to nuclear weapons and was part of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapon's 2017 Nobel Peace Prize. Her scholarship and research focuses on faith-based peacebuilding and development work as well as nonviolent resistance.