Your Classroom is Invited!
Building bridges between cultures
Welcome to the Global Citizens Challenge - a dynamic program ideal for classroom projects, homework assignments, or independent student enrichment. Since 2020, SYTA, Your Big Year (an International Connector program), and most recently Peace Through Tourism have been inspiring classrooms worldwide through a safe, interactive forum that brings global cultures directly to students’ desks.
With young leaders from 106 countries already engaged across seven virtual challenges, Your Big Year continues to empower students to build meaningful cross-cultural connections.
If you’re eager for your students to form lasting friendships, develop new skills, and make a real impact, the Global Citizens Challenge offers a transformative online experience, strengthening digital collaboration, cultural understanding, social impact awareness, and even future career pathways through guidance from global professionals.
Here are the steps to get involved:
Step 1: Sign your class up for a fully funded life-changing experience - accessed right from your classroom.
Step 2: Download the study guide (coming in early January).
Step 3: Set up a meeting with YBY Director Rachel Head to discuss the schedule and how to take full advantage of the content, workshops, technology and panels - BOOK WITH RACHEL HERE
Step 4: Join us virtually for the event on February 26 - March 1, 2026!
“Our students come from many communities across Northern and Central New Jersey. We have a mix of students from various socioeconomic backgrounds and cannot afford cultural exchange programs. This is why the Your Big Year Global Citizens Challenge is a life-changing experience for our youth”. - The Craig School, New Jersey.
About the challenge
The Global Citizens Challenge is an online dynamic program that provides young people with a transformative and collaborative way to meet and work with peers worldwide.
Why is this important?
Travel is often inaccessible to many young people due to a lack of awareness, school budget cuts, and economic barriers. As a result, many miss out on a cultural exchange experience that offers long-lasting benefits, such as increased confidence, enhanced employability, and greater empathy.
The Global Citizens Challenge (GCC) offers young people a safe space to explore cultural connections and differences, fostering meaningful exchanges within their communities both virtually and through valuable opportunities.
Our results have shown that this program help increase youths’ interest in other cultures and increases their overall motivation to learn
Common Questions:
Who can sign up for classes?
Educators, program leaders, organizations and parents! Must be 15 - 20 years old.
How can classrooms participate?
There are several ways in which educators can utilize this opportunity to enhance their student’s learning in the classroom.
You can integrate it into class projects (For example language teachers, global studies and geography teachers have closely related topics)
Into your class curriculum (example was that one teacher who teaches Spanish had her class practice speaking Spanish within the event and had them focused on meeting peers from Spanish-speaking countries).
Extra curricular or bonus points (your students can participate individually for extra points. Our team would work with you to report back on their participation)
How do you ensure the classroom is prepared?
We work closely with the educator to ensure that their group is prepared. This includes:
Specific orientation during your classroom period
A point of contact will be provided by the YBY Team that will be available throughout the entire Global Citizens Challenge (before, during and after the event).
Application Deadline:
For better classroom experience, we suggest you apply at least one month prior to the challenge so we can coordinate time with your classroom.
Read our FAQ sheet of commonly asked questions. If you have further queries, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team.