Pangaea Project takes counted-out kids and makes them leaders

Portland has something called The Pangaea Project. The Oregonian reports, “The organizers seek out kids who often feel they've been discounted and pushed aside by their peers, their traditional schools and sometimes their families. Those youths, the organization's staff say, are fertile ground to become leaders that can help battle some of society's most intractable problems. For many students in the program, school was little more than a hassle, yet they willingly spent three months trying to understand some of the world's toughest issues -- poverty, water shortages, child labor -- while battling to overcome their personal challenges -- depression, drug relapses, fragmented families, foster care court hearings.”

A group of students from the project is in Ecuador, exploring environmental justice, and doing community service.

Read more here.