International Youth Initiative Program in Sweden
Island Oak alumni Georgia Clap visited Friday, Feb. 17th to do a presentation on her experience with the Youth Initiative Program (YIP), an anthroposophical post-secondary program outside Jarna, Sweden. The ten-month youth initiative leadership training and social entrepreneurship training equips 19-25 year-olds with the tools to realize their ideas for manifesting change in the world. Living on a large farm located on a fjord, the students enjoy a packed schedule of lectures, community engagement, group projects and internships. They also form a question as the basis for an individual project. Courses in fundraising, budgeting, book keeping, community mapping, water, systems thinking, portraiture, sustainable economics and business, project planning and more help students recognize “tools of abundance” and realize that they have everything they need to manifest their ideas. The program teaches students how to “challenge social norms and economic restrictions”. During the program, a dance group Clap and her friends began for fun evolved into a performance group that toured Europe for months after the program ended. For more information go to http://www.yip.se/home/