We recently welcomed 23 young people to our offices to spend 12 weeks with us on the Greenpeace Organizing Term (GOT).

This is the best organizing training program for students in North America and that’s why we receive thousands of applications each year to join. Those that are accepted spend a semester in either Washington, DC or San Francisco completing four phases of the training.

The first phase is comprised of a series of structured workshops introducing students to various aspects of Greenpeace campaigns, including recruitment drives, phone-banking, and messaging. Greenpeace often invites guest lecturers to talk to students, including communication experts and veteran organizers.

The second phase includes additional training and hands-on exercises in direct action and more advanced campaign tactics, including media outreach and Internet organizing. For the third phase of the term, students travel to work with Greenpeace campaigners across the world for what is known as the Greenpeace Expedition.

In the fourth and final phase of training, students work with other student leaders to execute campus-based organizing activities. Once they have completed the training, we stay connected with our alumni as they return to campus, through campaigns, through Student Coordinators, through the Student Network Board, and through additional trainings.

This semester’s GOT students have an exciting three months ahead of them. Today they are learning about campaigns that they will take to the streets to run this month and they are deciding what will be the best tactics to use to build support and win change.

We’ll keep you posted on how they get on!