Maddy Wegner is an educator and communications specialist with extensive experience in service-learning, youth engagement, communications, and human and child rights education. She has served in multiple roles with the National Youth Leadership Council, including Director of Content and Engagement and Director of Communications. Her work has included developing resources for service-learning practitioners, integrating human and child rights frameworks into educational practice, and creating educational materials inspired by Nobel Peace Prize laureates and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. She also serves on the Executive Committee for Minneapolis’ Child Friendly Cities Initiative and has been recognized for her contributions to service-learning.
Episode 79: Summary
In this episode of Human Rights Education Now!, Maddy Wegner reflects on the experiences that shaped her commitment to human rights and human rights education. She discusses her early exposure to Indigenous rights issues while growing up in South Dakota, her experiences studying in Norway, and how immigration, equity, and children’s rights became increasingly central to her work. She also reflects on how observing children’s rights in practice in Nordic communities influenced her understanding of young people as rights holders.
Maddy explores her extensive work engaging young people through PeaceJam, Youthrive, the National Youth Leadership Council, and the Nobel Peace Prize Festival. She describes projects that enabled young people to learn from Nobel Peace Prize laureates, participate in service-learning and civic engagement, create bilingual and child-rights books, and connect human rights principles to issues in their own communities. The conversation also highlights Minneapolis’ UNICEF Child Friendly Cities Initiative and the importance of meaningful youth participation in building communities that respect children’s rights.
The episode concludes by examining some of today’s most pressing human rights concerns, particularly immigration and the rights to equality, movement, asylum, nationality, and freedom from arbitrary arrest. Maddy reflects on the people who have inspired her work, including Kailash Satyarthi, and emphasizes the importance of transforming young people’s sense of injustice into constructive action. Her central recommendation for advancing children’s rights is clear: the United States should ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and every child should have the opportunity to know and understand their rights.
Topics discussed:
- Origins of Maddy Wegner’s interest in human rights and human rights education
- Indigenous rights and the American Indian Movement
- Immigration, equity, and human rights
- Children’s rights in the United States and Nordic countries
- Youthrive, PeaceJam, and Nobel Peace Prize education
- Minneapolis’ Child Friendly Cities Initiative
- Reach Out and Read and child-created rights books
- Service-learning and civic engagement
- National Youth Leadership Council
- Youth voice and community-based education
- Human rights and the Sustainable Development Goals
- Immigration and immigrant rights
- Kailash Satyarthi and youth activism
- Ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
Full topic listing available for PDF download HERE.
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