Washington, DC—Rep. Watson announced the launch of a unique education program at the James A. Foshay Learning Center located in the 33rd Congressional District. The program, Panwapa, was launched as part of Rep. Watson’s long term commitment to harnessing technology as an educational empowerment tool and to cultivate local youth as responsible global citizens. Panwapa is produced by Sesame Workshop in partnership with the Merrill Lynch Foundation.

“As a former Ambassador and educator, I understand the critical need for programs that foster local youth as leaders who are culturally aware, civically responsible, and empowered with 21st century competencies and global understanding. I am pleased to announce that the Foshay Learning Center in my district has been selected to serve as a Panwapa Collaboratory. Foshay will serve as a pilot location for the recently designed Sesame Workshop Panwapa curriculum. It is my hope that this program will inspire a new generation of global leaders and ambassadors.”

The Panwapa curriculum was designed to develop cultural understanding and global citizenship by immersing youth in a multiplatform environment of virtual and real world learning world. A Foshay Learning Center team launched Panwapa as a pipeline project that engages and inspires both elementary and secondary students as global citizens. They are currently using the extensive Panwapa resource materials available in five languages: Arabic, English, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish. 

To date, Foshay’s elementary students have enjoyed using the Panwapa website to meet six new Muppet characters who inhabit the imaginary Panwapa Island, to explore the globe and to begin communicating with some of the 165,000 registered student users from over 100 countries.