Episode #26: Reinoud Meijer, Noam Hitsch - The International Youth Initiative Program

MICROCOLLEGE: The Thoreau College Podcast

Reinoud Meijer and Noam Hitsch join us from Sweden to talk about the International Youth Initiative Program, with special attention to the meaning and practice of the word "initiative".

Reinoud Meijer (Born 1975 in Amersfoort, the Netherlands) has been involved with youth and education for many years. He organized, facilitated, initiated and founded a number of youth conferences, projects, and initiatives before co-founding the YIP program.

He has a passion for human potential and development, for regenerative agriculture, -food culture and -lifestyles, and for the power of imagination put into action.

He refers to himself as an Imagineer, who seeks to move possibilities towards probabilities where possible. He is currently the president of the YIP association and a member of the organising team and lives together with his wife and two children on the campus in Ytterjärna, Sweden.

Noam Marei Hitsch was born in Germany and grew up in Austria. She attended Waldorf school until 10th grade and from that point on decided to take her learning into her own hands, traveling to several different biodynamic farms and Camphills in the US and in Europe to learn about agriculture and different forms of community. Agriculture in combination with the social realm and personal development have been instrumental teachers in her life so far.

She joined the The International Youth Initiative Program in Sweden to gain intellectual nourishment in addition to all the practical skills learned from her time working and traveling on farms and in community.

Learn more about Thoreau College and the microcollege movement at: https://thoreaucollege.org/

Driftless Folk School: https://www.driftlessfolkschool.org/

International Youth Initiative Program: https://yip.se/

Spark to Flame Youth Initiative Forum: https://initiativeforum.yip.se/