With contributions from Madiha Murshed, Co-Founder of World Savvy

In the days and weeks following September 11, 2001, the world was gripped by grief, fear, and uncertainty. The attacks had shaken people's sense of safety, but amid the devastation, something else was happening. Suspicion was growing. Prejudice and racism were taking hold. Fear of what people did not understand was driving communities further apart.

For two friends studying together in graduate school, Dana Mortenson and Madiha Murshed, the moment raised questions they could not shake.

They noticed that people were responding to the same events in profoundly different ways. Those with greater exposure to international affairs, different cultures, and the historical and political forces shaping the world often had a broader understanding of what was unfolding. Without that context, fear and uncertainty could more easily give way to sweeping assumptions and hostility toward entire communities.

Dana and Madiha saw how a lack of understanding could deepen division at precisely the moment when understanding was needed most. Their conversations kept returning to the role education could play in changing that.

What if young people grew up learning to question their assumptions, understand different perspectives, and recognize the humanity they shared with people whose lives looked different from their own? What if schools could prepare students not only to understand the world, but to contribute to shaping it?

They believed a more understanding, peaceful, and connected world could begin with how we educate young people.

In 2002, that belief became World Savvy.

Two friends, one conviction, and a big idea

World Savvy did not begin with a major grant or an established network. It began with modest contributions from family and friends and a shared determination to make a difference.

Dana and Madiha moved to San Francisco to build the organization. Resources were scarce, and at times, they shared a single salary to keep their vision alive. The beginnings were humble, but their ambitions for what education could make possible were anything but.

At the time, global education was often approached through the more visible expressions of culture: food, flags, festivals, and travel. Dana and Madiha believed education needed to go deeper, helping students explore the histories, systems, and human experiences behind the issues shaping their world.

They envisioned classrooms where students would investigate meaningful questions, encounter unfamiliar perspectives, challenge assumptions, and discover that their ideas could contribute to something beyond the classroom.

At the heart of their vision was something profoundly human: the belief that understanding could help people see beyond their differences, find common ground, and work together to address shared challenges.

When students showed what was possible

World Savvy's earliest work began in schools in Oakland, California, where Dana and Madiha started putting their ideas into practice alongside educators and students.

One of Madiha's most vivid memories from those early years is the World Affairs Challenge, an academic competition that invited middle and high school students to investigate complex global issues and present creative, thoughtful solutions.

She remembers middle school students conducting sophisticated research into international development, including examining the impact of World Bank programs and policies. These were young people engaging with complicated economic and political questions, weighing perspectives, and developing their own informed ideas.

For Dana and Madiha, seeing young people engage with this level of complexity affirmed the conviction that had brought World Savvy into being. Students did not need to wait until adulthood to think critically about the world or contribute meaningful ideas. They needed educators who believed in their potential and learning experiences that challenged them to reach it.

The question was never whether young people could rise to the challenge. It was whether we would give them the opportunity.

An idea that grew, and a belief that endured

What began with two friends and a handful of classrooms grew into an organization whose work has reached more than 922,000 students and 7,400 educators across 45 states and 32 countries. But World Savvy's evolution is about more than its reach. Over 25 years of working alongside educators, school leaders, and students, the organization learned that the opportunities demonstrated in those early classrooms should not depend on a single lesson, a special project, or one extraordinary teacher. They should be part of how every student experiences learning.

That understanding shaped World Savvy's evolution from creating opportunities for students to explore global issues to helping schools anchor teaching and learning in authentic, real-world application. Today, World Savvy partners with educators and school leaders to embed critical thinking, collaboration, perspective-taking, communication, and civic agency throughout the learning experience.

The approach has evolved, the reach has grown, and the understanding of what lasting educational change requires has deepened. But the founding conviction remains: young people are capable of extraordinary things when given the opportunity.

Twenty-five years later, the world is calling again

There is something both remarkable and sobering about looking back at World Savvy's beginnings nearly 25 years later.

Technology has transformed how we communicate, learn, and encounter information. Artificial intelligence is reshaping the world of work. Young people are growing up amid deep divisions, widespread misinformation, and challenges that demand the ability to think critically, navigate differences, and work together toward solutions.

And yet, so much of what troubled Dana and Madiha in the aftermath of September 11 remains painfully familiar.

The questions that inspired World Savvy's founding have not disappeared. They have become more urgent, and the implications for education have become even clearer.

Preparing young people to understand and shape the world cannot be an exceptional educational experience. It must become an essential part of every student's education; we now approach this through transforming educator practice, working with whole school systems and centering student voice.

Twenty-five years ago, two friends believed education could help address the fear, misunderstanding, and division they saw around them. Today, World Savvy carries that conviction forward with nearly a quarter century of experience helping schools translate that belief into everyday teaching and learning.

This anniversary is an opportunity to honor the people, sacrifices, and experiences that brought World Savvy into being, and the extraordinary students, educators, and communities who have carried that vision forward.

But it is also a moment to look ahead.

The world that called World Savvy into being in 2002 is not the world young people are navigating today. The challenges have evolved, the stakes have grown, and the need for this work has never been greater.

What began with two friends determined to change how young people understood the world has become an opportunity to transform how an entire generation learns to engage with it. Twenty-five years later, World Savvy is ready to take that vision further.

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This is the first story in 25 Years, 25 Stories, a series exploring the people, experiences, and ideas that have shaped World Savvy—and what nearly 25 years of practice can teach us about the future of education.