Students at Somers High School last week met with Vancouver-based Global Youth Fund founder Charles Tsai to discuss which project the school’s new Global Youth Fund chapter would support this year.

It was an historic meeting, since Somers is the first U.S. or Canadian high school to create its own GYF chapter. Club president Maggie Klimentova said the local club is designed to expand its member’s understanding of and participation in world events and try to make a positive difference.

There were three projects the two dozen students who attended the all-day workshop debated: City of Joy, which would provide refuge, treatment and hope to girls and women who are targets of sexual violence and death in the Congo; Building Peace — Central Asia Institute, which provides children in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan with basic primary education; and One laptop per child, which gives children in developing countries laptop computers.

After members debated the different projects with an eye to what funding they could raise and how, the group settled on Building Peace — Central Asia Institute.

Look for upcoming fund-raisers geared toward helping support the project. And ask either Klimentova or member Alexandra Zaleski about the project. The group hopes to raise $750 with bake sales, a car wash, direct solicitations and Pennies for Peace.