Palisadian Activist Kaitlyn Olson Represents ‘Spirit of Community’

By DIVYA SUBRAHMANYAM Palisadian-Post Intern Kaitlyn Olson, an 11th grader at New Roads High School, was recently honored with the Prudential “Spirit of Community” Award for her involvement in numerous community service organizations, including One Global Tribe, the Name Campaign, and Global Awareness in Action. On March 4 and 5, the Palisades resident co-produced a charity benefit at the Knitting Factory, called “Share the Love,” to raise money for One Global Tribe, a network of youth around the world, united in their joint effort to raise awareness and funds towards issues such as AIDS prevention, war-affected children, and the lack of clean water worldwide. The concert featured six bands from Westside schools, as well as free-speech poets from South Central. It raised over $6,000 and was covered by Fox and Teen Vogue. Currently, as founder and youth director of One Global Tribe, she is focusing on AIDS prevention, and is joining with PEP LA to organize an event to raise awareness. During this event, a photographer will take an aerial image of students lying down in a park, their bodies either shaping the AIDS symbol or spelling out the word “hope.” Then, says Kaitlyn, “several students will make speeches of encouragement to kids who were directly affected, saying ‘We care, we’re helping.'” She is also involved with the Name Campaign, which sells dog tags with the names of Ugandan children. The profits go towards rehabilitation in Uganda, a country torn by rebellion. Kaitlyn became involved with Global Tribe after the head of the organization came to speak at her school. “I had no idea that this was going on,” she said. “It was tantamount to the situation in Darfur. Since we don’t really learn about this in history, I decided to independently research the situation in Uganda.” She realized that very few people knew about or understood the extent of the violence, so decided to become part of the effort to raise money and awareness towards this cause. Kaitlyn’s efforts, however, do not stop at Los Angeles fundraisers. Last summer, she attended Global Awareness in Action, a youth panel on world issues, sponsored by Putney Student Travel. Kaitlyn met with the other participants for about four days before traveling to El Salvador with a small student group to learn more about the poverty-stricken country. She then returned to the U.S. and gave a presentation (one of several by different students) on her new knowledge at a panel at Yale University. In August, she will go to Kenya to the YES Youth Employment Summit, where she will speak to more than 2,000 youth about sustainable business, also discussing how kids in the U.S. are doing their part to help with global issues. She will hold two internships this summer, in Washington, D.C.: for Hillary Clinton and for Media Matters, an organization she describes as “one of the few reliable media sources.” After her senior year in high school, Kaitlyn hopes to attend Barnard College or Columbia University in New York.