Samantha Smith Challenge

Choose an issue that is important to you!

Pick a meaningful issue – a problem in your community, state, country or the world that matters to them, a concern that you are motivated to help solve. Look at the recent AWTT portrait of Julia Butterfly Hill, read her biography, and think about her words.

We all have our own version of a tree-sit that’s out there waiting for us. It’s our life’s calling. There’s a “tree” for every one of us, and this tree can call us to be bigger than we believe ourselves to be and to create a life that is more amazing than we can imagine. What’s your tree?

It’s impossible not to make a difference. The question is not “How can I, one person, make a difference?” the question is “What kind of difference do I want to make?

Possible approaches to choosing an issue:

Go to the AWTT website for ideas. Use the Themes filtering tool on the Portrait Galleries page to focus on particular issues, or read about issues that are of concern to specific portrait subjects.

Discovery! Do research and find the facts about the issue.

Suggestions:

Create a list of questions about all the things you don’t know or understand about their chosen topics.

Find answers to the questions!
Go to the Portrait Galleries on the AWTT website and explore by themes. See if your issue is represented there. If so, read about the portrait subjects who have addressed that issue. Use them as starting points.
Use the resources listed on the portrait pages.

Create the message or the action!

Who is the audience for your message/action? Parents? Teachers? Lawmakers? Other students? People in your community?
Decide the purpose of your message or action!
- Consider the following possibilities:
  - Help people in their communities to re-imagine where they live.
  - Provoke local authorities by calling out an injustice in the community.
  - Inspire people to join the fight against climate change, homelessness, inequality, etc.
  - Shed light on a practice or event most people don’t know or don’t understand.
  - Encourage or challenge people in power

Tell the story of your issue – some suggestions:
- Start by stating the issue as a question, 'e.g.,

- - Why are there homeless people in my community?
  - What should the minimum wage be?
  - What kind of energy can take us sustainably into the future?
  - How can our school/town reduce its carbon footprint?
  - What can we do to address bullying in our school?

Check out storytelling suggestions from This I Believe in association with National Public Radio.

Bring your message and action to life

Use the Arts! Remember … Use the power of the creative arts to make your message come alive!

The arts create a context for conversation. The creative arts cause people to ask questions that need to be asked. The creative arts help people feel, open hearts and minds to understanding, motivate them to act.
Make paintings, original musical compositions, essays, theater skits or any other form of creative expression that communicates the identified concern and responds to the academic needs of your classroom. (Some students may choose their medium while others may be working in a specific class that teaches drawing or painting, theater or film-making, where the medium will be defined by the teacher.)

Check out some examples of delivering messages of truth and hope using the creative arts
- 2013 – Brave New Voices (Quarter Finals) – Washington, D. C. Team
- And a little Hanson: I Was Born
- Hope by Jason Robert Brown

Get a response! Contact the target audience/s and schedule an exhibit, performance, forum or other method of presentation, connection, march, or happening. Build a bridge of understanding!