Seattle Public Schools press release on Chief Sealth International High School's World Water Week festivities, March 19 - 22:

World Toilet Organization keynote March 19 will kick off student-led conference on global and local water issues

Students, teachers, and members of Chief Sealth International High School community will come together for a week dedicated to raising awareness about global and local water issues during the third annual World Water Week. This year’s festival themes are sanitation and health.

On Tuesday, March 19, World Water Week presents keynote speaker Jack Sim. Sim, founder of the World Toilet Organization, uses humor to turn an often-taboo topic into a serious conversation about sustainable sanitation in developing countries. Sim has become a true environmental hero. The event is co-sponsored by Town Hall Seattle and will take place in the Chief Sealth International High School Auditorium.

Students are currently fundraising to cover festival costs. Online contributions can be made here: http://seavuria.seeyourimpact.org/

The 2013 World Water Week schedule includes:

● Tuesday, March 19: Resource Fair with local water/health organizations from 6-7 p.m. with music and refreshments. Keynote lecture with Jack Sim in the Chief Sealth International High School Auditorium at 7 p.m. This is the only public component of the festival.

● Wednesday/Thursday, March 20-21: The student body will attend an all-school assembly presented by King County Wastewater Treatment Division to introduce the topic of local water and sanitation. The students will also participate in a synchronous all-school lesson about global sanitation issues. In the evening of March 20, students’ families will attend a Multicultural Night program that will feature activities about water, sanitation and health for all ages.

● Friday, March 22 (World Water Day): School-wide student conference with workshops for students with speakers from PATH, Plumbers Without Borders, Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, Seattle BioMed, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Solid Ground, and many more. Students will also be participating in a Field Event where they will learn about waterborne diseases.

This festival is being organized by Chief Sealth students Tasha Addington-Ferris, Farhan Vohra, Sydney Sattler and Emma Pierce, and their teacher and mentor Noah Zeichner. The team works with a hard-working group of 70 Chief Sealth students and teachers, in collaboration with several local organizations.

These students became interested in health/water issues after participating in the 2011 World Water Week festival put together by then-Sealth senior Molly Freed. In the summer of 2010, the Bezos Family Foundation selected Freed and Zeichner as Bezos Scholars -- two of 12 scholar/educator pairs across the nation -- to attend the Aspen Ideas Festival. At the festival, scholars were directed to create their own local Ideas Festival, and Freed and Zeichner developed the vision for World Water Week.