Strong words from a young voice. High Achiever student Willie Pearson II won the service to community essay contest and read his thoughts during a Peace Corps celebration at The Carter Center in Atlanta.

The High Achievers, funded through a contract with Georgia College, participated in the Peace Corps Coverdell World Wise Schools education program this year. As part of the program, the students corresponded with Peace Corps volunteer Nicole Wallace in Mali.

“This has been a wonderful learning experience for all our students,” said High Achievers Program Coordinator Bibole Ngalamulume, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa. “It has given the student's a first-hand understanding of life in Africa.”

The program fosters an understanding of other cultures and global issues by facilitating communication between Peace Corps volunteers and classrooms. Since its beginning in 1989 by then-Peace Corps Director Paul D. Coverdell, World Wise Schools has helped more than three million students communicate directly with Peace Corps volunteers all over the world.

“One of the most important things about helping serve the community is that you're not only improving your surroundings, you're improving yourself as an individual,” Pearson read from his essay. “…You improve yourself by building character and self-esteem…”

Georgia College continues to work toward the goals set by Coverdell, who later went on to become a U.S. Senator from Georgia. Papers from his work as director of the Peace Corps and the United States Senate were housed at Georgia College following his death in 2000. The High Achievers Program mirrors the Peace Corps' goal of bringing the world to the United States through the use of the World Wise Schools curriculum.

Joining the High Achievers in Atlanta were Mayor Richard Bentley and some of the participants from the Mayor's Commission on Youth Leadership. Also attending were board member, Eva Stevenson, Executive Director of the Department of Family and Children's Services; DHR Program Officer, Carmen Callaway; long-time bus driver for the High Achievers, Darryl Richardson; program evaluator, Charles Martin; coordinator of civic engagement activities, Gregg Kaufman; and Pearson's mother, Jackie Toombs. Others at the event included the program's staff: Bibole Ngalamulume, Kenneth Daniels, Cordell Walker, Dexter Ricks, and Linda Watson Kaufman.

The celebration at The Carter Center also included President Jimmy Carter's presentation of The Lillian Carter Award to senior volunteer Catherine Taylor Foster of Illinois, who served in Nepal from 1996 - 1998.

“It's important to recognize senior volunteers, but we also need to make sure that we plant seeds of peace among America's youth,” said Amy Clark, a program specialist with the World Wise Schools program.

Thirty-seven Baldwin County youth are in the High Achievers Program, a partnership between the DHR-funded project and the 21st Century Community Learning Center Youth Enrichment Services (YES) Program of Baldwin County. The program's goal is to develop civically-engaged youth who have the ability and knowledge to be effective leaders - both to their younger peers and as ambassadors and change agents for positive youth development.

The students, director and leaders have been together for over five years. The program started as a pregnancy prevention program. Today, the same group is developing future community leaders through programs funded by the Georgia Department of Human Resources.

“Our students are the future leaders of Milledgeville and the surrounding areas,” said Linda Watson Kaufman, Georgia College's Director of Grants Development and Special Projects. “Someday, we hope some of our students may travel the world as Peace Corps volunteers spreading service and goodwill.”