Group of JPS students making journey to Africa
Global Citizenship Project will connect teens with Nigerian counterparts
Updated: 11:00 PM CST Mar 5, 2025
More than a dozen Jackson Public Schools students are participating in the Global Citizenship Project.Fourteen students are traveling to Africa. Students and staff embarked on their journey, leaving from Jackson-Evers International Airport Wednesday morning. They are scheduled to return in eight days.The program provides students with the opportunity to learn alongside their peers while deepening their understanding of the social, cultural and historical connections between Jackson, Baltimore and Nigeria.Throughout the school year, the students have been connecting with peers from diverse backgrounds, fostering global perspectives and forming lasting friendships.JPS Superintendent Dr. Errick Greene said, “The experiences that they’ve already had, getting to know their peers over in Nigeria virtually, as well as just reading books and reading up on the history, getting to know about their legal system, their education system, the culture, the food, the music, history in general, all of that is a part of the experience that we create for them.”Greene is among the staff making the journey. He said he hopes the the experience will show students what lies outside the border of their own lives but also allow them to appreciate what they have at home.”I’m excited again to be offering this amazing experience to our scholars. This Global Citizenship Project, again, we’re taking scholars from Jackson, Mississippi, over to Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria. It’s part of their yearlong experience of exploring what it means to be a Jacksonian, a Mississippian, an American and finding out more about what lies outside our borders,” Greene said. Avery Johnson, a student at JPS-Tougaloo Early College High School and Murrah High School, is one of the students on the trip.”I’m very excited to go immerse myself in a new culture,” said Johnson. “I’ve never been out of the country before, so this is going to be a brand-new experience. I’m really excited to see how their scholars learn over there compared to us.”Regan Huddleston, a student at Murrah High, said, “I’m really excited to go on this trip. It’s a great opportunity for kids my age, especially in JPS.” Rodney Hawthorne attends Callaway High School and is among the 14 students making the journey. “Ah, man, I’m very excited! Just to go across the world, it’s like, it’s an opportunity most kids my age never really get to have and get to do, so I’m just grateful for that,” Hawthorne said.This is the fourth year JPS has participated in the Global Citizenship Project.
More than a dozen Jackson Public Schools students are participating in the Global Citizenship Project.
Fourteen students are traveling to Africa.
Students and staff embarked on their journey, leaving from Jackson-Evers International Airport Wednesday morning. They are scheduled to return in eight days.
The program provides students with the opportunity to learn alongside their peers while deepening their understanding of the social, cultural and historical connections between Jackson, Baltimore and Nigeria.
Throughout the school year, the students have been connecting with peers from diverse backgrounds, fostering global perspectives and forming lasting friendships.
JPS Superintendent Dr. Errick Greene said, “The experiences that they’ve already had, getting to know their peers over in Nigeria virtually, as well as just reading books and reading up on the history, getting to know about their legal system, their education system, the culture, the food, the music, history in general, all of that is a part of the experience that we create for them.”
Greene is among the staff making the journey. He said he hopes the the experience will show students what lies outside the border of their own lives but also allow them to appreciate what they have at home.
“I’m excited again to be offering this amazing experience to our scholars. This Global Citizenship Project, again, we’re taking scholars from Jackson, Mississippi, over to Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria. It’s part of their yearlong experience of exploring what it means to be a Jacksonian, a Mississippian, an American and finding out more about what lies outside our borders,” Greene said.
Avery Johnson, a student at JPS-Tougaloo Early College High School and Murrah High School, is one of the students on the trip.
“I’m very excited to go immerse myself in a new culture,” said Johnson. “I’ve never been out of the country before, so this is going to be a brand-new experience. I’m really excited to see how their scholars learn over there compared to us.”
Regan Huddleston, a student at Murrah High, said, “I’m really excited to go on this trip. It’s a great opportunity for kids my age, especially in JPS.”
Rodney Hawthorne attends Callaway High School and is among the 14 students making the journey. “Ah, man, I’m very excited! Just to go across the world, it’s like, it’s an opportunity most kids my age never really get to have and get to do, so I’m just grateful for that,” Hawthorne said.
This is the fourth year JPS has participated in the Global Citizenship Project.