Publications
Journals, Articles, and Blogs
Taylor and Francis Online
Bringing Holistic Global Citizenship to Life in Schools By LeeAnne Lavender
Most people would agree that our world in 2022 is a complex and challenging place and space. How, as educators, can we process what is happening and help our students do the same? How can we help our students maintain hope for a sustainable future in the face of distressing news about our planet? How can we think, feel, and act in ways that foster purposeful and positive change? How can we engage with our communities (both local and global) in open, inclusive, and empathic ways? (read more…)
InterED
Taking the Long View: Sustainability for Global Citizenship Transformation By LeeAnne Lavender and Aaron Moniz
Many educators and leaders in international schools around the globe recognize the value and urgency of global citizenship education (GCE) and the need to empower Prek-12 students to engage in authentic community engagement and active local and global citizenship (Ahmed & Mohammed, 2022). To this end, educators use the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)… (read more…)
The Korea Herald
School as a place of empathy and impact during COVID-19 crisis
By Ock-Hyun-ju
Seoul Foreign School, which has been serving the international community in Seoul for over a hundred years, and Inspire Citizens, an educational consulting collaborative that has worked with thousands of teachers across the globe, have partnered over the last couple years to help students to learn within the school curriculum to take action and to develop innovative approaches to learning. (read more…)
NESA News
A Recipe for Whole School Transformation Towards Active Global Citizenship By Leeanne Lavender, Inspire Citizens Storyteller
The word “transformation” has energy and power, doesn’t it? The idea of radical change and positive metamorphosis is compelling and, when paired with creating opportunities for students to engage in authentic changemaking, can inspire and empower all educators. (read more…)
The EARCOS Journal
The Future of the World is in Our Classrooms By Aaron Moniz
Being educators in international schools, it is common to come across schools that have mission and vision statements aspiring to develop global citizens that take action for the well-being of the earth and its inhabitants. It is equally as common to see schools that do not yet have an articulated approach for... (read more…)
HundrED
The Future of the World is in Our Schools and Classrooms By HundrED
Inspire Citizens is an educational organization working with committed partners to reimagine education and schools through the lenses of compassion, understanding, action, and connection for transformative, engaged global citizenship. (read more...)
Recovery Mode
Understanding the Empathy to Impact Project by Aaron Moniz & Steve Sostak
Our recovery conversations can and should lead to celebrating diverse classrooms around the globe that spark contextualized, innovative, and co-designed approaches that lead to civic consciousness, intercultural competence, collective wellbeing and sustainable development. Not only can we recover, but we can emerge greater than ever before if we meet the current needs of our communities… (read more…)
Seoul Foreign School
INSPIRE CITIZENS AND SFS: THE MISSION IN ACTION by Aaron Moniz
The core components of the SFS mission statement are the guiding principles for everything we do as a school. “Seoul Foreign School, Centered in Christ, inspires a passion for learning, pursues academic and creative excellence and is dedicated to the service of others.” This statement weaves together many different conceptual threads, the fundamental building blocks that our faculty foster in our students every day. With the help of Inspire Citizens, that work has become actionable and measurable, facilitating SFS students to live the mission and carry it with them well beyond their time on campus. (read more…)
BQI Blog
Remembering Steve Sostak By Will Richardson
We remember the links from head to hands to heart; empathy to impact. Steve’s work in global citizenship always started from a place of deep empathy. Without empathy, the focus is on theoretical people and can never get too far. He embraced the vision of “developing an Ego to Eco mindset grounded in inner and outer peace, joy, and sustainability.” He lived by this… (read more..)
IC Featured Podcasts
Rethinking Learning: Episode #163 The Blueprint for EMPATHY to IMPACT
Published on September 5, 2024 By Barbara Bray
Aaron Moniz is the co-founder, director, and lead facilitator of Inspire Citizens which started in 2018. Aaron grew up in a small town in Canada and then moved to Abu Dhabi and experienced diversity and interculturalism first-hand. He focuses on social issues, human rights, anti-racism and anti-homophobia, environmentalism, animal rights, etc. through Punk.
ISS EDUlearn: Ask Me Anything
Published on Aug 2, 2024 By Mike Pierre and Dr. Dana Specker Watts
Welcome to the ISS EDUlearnTM: Ask Me Anything (AMA) Podcast, brought to you by the nonprofit organization International Schools Services (ISS). Our podcast is designed to provide professional development for the global education community, covering topics from curriculum and diversity, equity, and inclusion, to marketing and human resources.
Design Cast: Episode #79
Published on January 8th, 2022 By by Jason Reagin
For this episode of #DesignCast I had the honor to talk with Steve Sostak from Inspire Citizens. Steve is passionate about many things, but we spend most of the time talking about his work with schools and ‘empathy to impact’. You can find out more about the awesome work that Steve and Inspire Citizens are doing through the links in the show notes. I have no doubt that you will want to find out more about his work after listening to this chat that we have! Now sit back, relax and enjoy this episode with Steve Sostak!
Rethinking Learning: Episode #103
Published on Aug 7, 2020 By by Barbara Bray
Steve Sostak, @inspirecitizen1, is co-director of Inspire Citizens, author of the Global Impact School Self-Study, designer and director of the IC Master Teacher Endorsement, co-director of GlobalYouthMedia.org, and a global education facilitator, implementing @SDG2030 into school wide learning experiences. Following 15 years teaching elementary and middle school in the U.S., Peru, Malaysia, and China, Steve specializes in working with schools, teachers, and students to illuminate how schools can thrive as community centers of personal, local and global applied learning. Grounded in compassionate empathy, Steve and Inspire Citizens empowers students and educators to amplify civic and interdisciplinary literacies to take informed systemic action for: Sustainable Development, Social Justice, Collective Well-being, and Social-Emotional-Ethical Intelligence.
Make Teachers Better: Episode 26
Published on Sept 15th, 2019 By by Kevin O’Shea
Who is reshaping education in a time when we need it? Who is impacting educators and students around the world at a time when the world is in need of help? Inspire Citizens are! We chat with Steve Sostak and Aaron Moniz from inspirecitizens.org. They cohosted the Shekou SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) Summit in Shenzhen, China. We got to chat in person and what they do and how they are reshaping education.
Out of the Blocks: Seoul, South Korea
Published on May 21, 2019 By Aaron Henkin, Wendel Patrick
Out of the Blocks teamed up with the education activists at Inspire Citizens to spend a week at Seoul Foreign School, working with students on empathy and active listening. The week culminated in a global youth media conference, when 150 middle & high school kids from international schools in Korea, China, Shanghai, and Abu Dhabi headed out into the streets of Seoul to interview strangers. Check out this special audio postcard, and hear what the students learned about others and about themselves.
Dismissed with Jeremy Williams
Published on May 30th, 2019 By by Jeremy Williams
International educator Jeremy Williams interviews prominent expats, educators, and entrepreneurs from across the world. Dismissed is a global podcast that aims to make the world feel a little smaller through connecting educators through commonalities no matter their location.
The International Schools Podcast: Episode #7
Published on Sep 06, 2019 By by John Mikton and Dan Taylor
We first met Aaron and Steve earlier in 2019 in Taiwan where they attended an AppsEvents Google Summit. They were both teachers in Beijing, China and recently left to form their own company called ‘Inspire Citizens’ which focuses on ‘Global Citizenship’. Their organization helps schools build a culture of global competence, service learning, and relevant problem-based learning, built upon local and global community engagement. They incorporate a lot of design thinking principles which is a huge interest of ours at AppsEvents.
Feature Inspire Citizens as a guest today!
We are always glad to be featured on different platforms to discuss what we do.
Book a call and get in touch :)