SOURCE: Mount Madonna School

A+ in Happiness; Students Embark on Field Trip of Their Lives

WATSONVILLE, Calif., Dec 12, 2006 /XpressPress/ -- Fourteen American high school seniors have been invited to engage in the Dalai Lama Foundation's "Project Happiness," joining students from Africa and India in a cross-cultural collaboration to work with His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama to help teens create a better future. Swapping emails, videos and blogs, students from three continents investigate the relationship of lasting happiness to personal ethics and values. "We're using new media to communicate old wisdom," said student Luke Sanders-Self.

The project's inspiration came from the Dalai Lama himself. His educational foundation invited students from Mount Madonna School in Northern California to join the endeavor. Teacher Ward Mailliard said the project fits the school's core mission, "We're a small school with a big vision. We're grappling with the larger questions of life, happiness and what it means to be a community." In a collaborative effort dubbed "Project Happiness," students from the Dominion Heritage Academy in Jos, Nigeria, the Tibetan Children's Village in Dharmasala, India, and MMS will create a high school curriculum for the Dalai Lama's, Ethics for the New Millennium.

One of the California students, 17-year-old Emily Crubaugh, explains the project's impact: "I'm exploring the true roots of my happiness. Not just the surface causes, but the things in my life that I really care about that push me forward." Nigerian school principal, Emmannuel Ande Ivorgba expands: "This project will help our Nigerian youths begin a process of rediscovering their true identity and also realizing what we have lost as a people and a nation."

The project culminates in March 2007 with students traveling by plane, train and jeep to Dharmasala, India, when they will meet face-to-face for the first time, and have an audience with the Dalai Lama. Their journey will be the subject of a documentary, released as an independent film and shown on PBS. Additionally, they will provide news to Channel One, reaching 7 million teens, one third of high schools in America.

For the students it's a journey of a lifetime: "This is the apex of my school experience," said MMS senior Mark Hansen. For the world, it's an opportunity to see through the eyes of our children what is most important to their lives and perhaps to the future of humanity.

Contact: Leigh Ann Clifton, 408/847-2717, x519

This release was issued through The Xpress Press News Service, merging e-mail and satellite distribution technologies to reach business analysts and media outlets worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.XpressPress.com

SOURCE Mount Madonna School Leigh Ann Clifton, Marketing Assistant of Mount Madonna School, +1-408-847-2717, x519

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