Children's Awareness Week raises concern about issues facing children

While issues such as obesity and violence in the Middle East have been rampant in the media, children are very rarely featured as the victims of these problems. Seven Tufts students, however, have planned a weeklong conference, called Children's Awareness Week, in which children, have become the focus.

"There are many issues that plague our world as adults and we don't realize they have an enormous effect on children as well," senior and co-coordinator Hassa Blake, said.

The idea for Children's Awareness Week, which is sponsored by the University College (UC) and will take place this week, from April 12 to 18, began with senior and UC scholar Ify Mora.

The week, however, has evolved into a collective effort by many different members of the Tufts community, from organizations such as the Institute for Global Leadership and the Leonard Carmichael Society to student volunteers.

According to Mora, the idea for the week of events grew out of a need to "create a focus on children and their issues."

"The idea of this week is to really involve [students] in conversations and events that have to do with children, and to bring up issues that aren't immediately labeled as children's issues," freshman, and co-coordinator Gena Davis, said.

"We're trying to offer everyone a way of getting involved and learning about the issues, from lectures, to interactive events, to visual learning," senior and co-coordinator Laura Irizarry said.

Each day will be dedicated to a different topic "focusing on learning and experiencing issues that impact the lives of children," according to the UC press release. "Its purpose is to raise awareness of central issues affecting children such as childhood obesity, the media's impact on children and the experiences of children in the Middle East, with the ultimate goal of encouraging members of the community to step up and get involved," the press release said.

Events include a discussion about childhood obesity, led by Professor Christina Economes, the Director of Shape-Up Somerville.

"Each day has a different focus. One is health, and one of the main things facing children today is obesity," Irizarry, who teaches an Ex-college course on childhood obesity, said.

On Thursday, which has been declared Children and International Issues day, former graduates of the program "Seeds of Peace" will describe their experiences growing up surrounded by the Middle East violence. "Seeds of Peace" is a Maine summer camp that brings children from areas of conflict together to discuss issues and to share the common experience of summer camp.

The Tufts Institute of Global Leadership will also bring high schools students from their Inquiry program to the lecture. "We hope to have really interesting discussions afterwards, with Inquiry kids and the [Seeds of Peace] graduates," Davis said.

The Week will also feature workshops, including one led by faculty from the Department of Child Development called "Teaching Children through the Arts," which will explore alternative teaching methods, involving the arts.

On Wednesday, ten organizations which work with children will be visiting campus, in order to engage students and get them involved.

"We want to teach about the problems but we also want to give students a venue to get involved and do something about the problem. It's a day of community activism," Irizarry said.

The conference will culminate with two events. The first is Tufts annual Kids Day, sponsored by the Leonard Carmichael Society. In its 41st year, Kids Day is meant to provide a forum for Tufts students and children in the surrounding communities of Medford and Somerville to interact, have fun, and learn.

The final event will take place Sunday, with a "Youth and Spirituality" concert, meant to emphasize the importance of spirituality and religion in children's lives and development.

"The spirituality and youth event is a celebration of spirituality in youth development and is about showing how influential spirituality, whatever form it comes in, is on a child," Blake said.

"My main interest is advocacy, and what we are trying to accomplish is awareness of the multiple issues facing children everyday," Iriszarry said. "Children face the same issues as adults, but rarely receive the same amount of attention."