Developing the next generation of global leaders

Organization: OneWorld Now!
Field of Work: Learning/Youth Development
Location: Seattle, Washington
Year Elected: 2005
Fellow Type: Fellow


“Kristin’s vision, passion, and entrepreneurial spirit will surely inspire others to achieve their greatest dreams.” — Howard Schultz, Chairman, Starbucks Coffee Company

More than a century ago, Mark Twain opined, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely.” Kristin Hayden agrees. Her passion for cross-cultural understanding began when she was a 15-year old Rotary exchange student doing a one-year study abroad tour in apartheid South Africa. That experience changed her life, setting her on a path to explore the world, challenge injustice, and pursue lifechanging learning experiences for herself and others.

Kristin launched OneWorld Now! after the events of September 11, 2001. “Americans clearly need to have a more global perspective to deal with the realities we are facing,” she says. “I believe that we can change the world by transforming ourselves. Our goal is to cultivate a more global perspective by urging high school students to learn foreign languages and study abroad.”

OneWorld Now! is a two-year, afterschool program — open to juniors and seniors in six Seattle high schools — that provides international learning experiences to underserved youth. Students study Arabic or Chinese (for high school credit), participate in leadership training, and earn study abroad scholarships. Noting that they also build unique resumes for college admission, Kristin added college prep and selection to the program. Today, 75 percent of OneWorld Now! graduates attend four year colleges.

Kristin’s idea is gaining momentum. “More than ever, we need to see the big picture, see ourselves as part of one world and to understand the world in which we live,” says Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA). “Kristin is inspiring students with a new process of learning about the world and their role as citizens and future leaders. I hope it becomes a model for similar initiatives across the country.”

Kristin credits the Henry M. Jackson Foundation’s initial grant for leading others to recognize the value of offering this global education to youth who have the least access to cultural exchange opportunities. After just two years, OneWorld Now! was recognized as “one of the nation’s most innovative after school programs” by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.

Since her election to the global Ashoka fellowship in 2005, Kristin has been developing a national model promoting international studies. By 2012, Kristin would like OneWorld Now! to have doubled the number of U.S. high school students who study abroad.

To learn more, click for her profile created at the time of her election.