The Union International
Writer/interviewer: Hansika
Interviewee: Pear Chotbunwong
Editor: Eleonora Burei
Pear Chotbunwong from Ruamrudee International School in Bangkok, Thailand, founded The Union International, Thailand’s 1st interscholastic student run-newspaper in August 2020. ChooseChange’s interview with Pear Chotbunwong, Founder and Editor in chief, gives a small glimpse into the world of The Union.
H: WHAT THE UNION IS ABOUT?
PC: “The Union is Thailand's first interscholastic newspaper that connects students from different schools together and helps raise teen voices so that they can learn from one another and empower each other. I started up the Union as somewhere where students can elevate their voices and reach out and make new friends from people from different schools.”
H: WHAT IS THE STORY BEHIND THE UNION?
PC: “I realized in 9th grade, I felt like sometimes I was only friends with people within my school. I had a friend ask me once, “Do you make new friends from going to volleyball games outside of school?” And it dawned on me that I never really made an effort to reach out to other people from different schools. That was what sparked my idea of creating something to unite schools around Bangkok. Then I saw my school didn't have a student run newspaper and I thought maybe I could start one but then after realizing that a lot of the international schools in Thailand were divided, even though we're one international school community, there's still this gap between us. So by recognizing this gap, I felt like that was an opportunity for us to create something that was more collective. So it was the culmination of these two realizations that is the reason I created the Union.”
H: IS THE UNION EXPANDING?
PC: “I founded the Union in August 2020 at my own school first and then we expanded it to five international schools. Currently we have more than 15 members from 18 schools. However, a lot of our writers and conete creators are actually based all over South East Asian countries like Taiwan or Singapore.”
H: WHAT ARE UNIONS LATEST ACTIVITIES?
PC: “So the first event that we did was a College panel. There were six people who were alumni from five different international schools. They came to talk about how they navigated high school and how they prepared themselves to go to University. We had around 60 attendees who came in and learned from these panelists and it was this event that kick-started our newspaper.
The second event we hosted was the “Raise your Voice: Exploring Youth Identities” competition. The theme for this competition was identity. As I was looking through the submissions I was fascinated. There were a lot of pieces which talked about identity being something that was collected like the identity of a nation or identity of a culture, while others talked about it in a more personal way. The competition really inspired me and The Union as a whole. I feel like our mission truly shone through this competition because it enabled us to not just empower the people inside of the Union but to encourage individuals outside of The Union to express who they are and raise their voices as well.”
H: WHAT IS THE UNION EXPANSION?
PC: “Knowing what I started as a small initiative that has expanded to such a large scale can be overwhelming. Honestly, it didn't really hit me yet until Polly (Co-founder of ChooseChange) told me she wanted Choosechange to collaborate with The Union and that was huge because I always looked up to choosechange as a really amazing platform. I also want to mention that The Union has grown so much not just because of me. A lot of people were involved with me since the beginning, and went through the numerous discussions of the panels, finding sponsors, and recruiting new people; tasks that people aren't usually interested in doing. “
H: HOW DOES UNION ELEVATE TEENS VOICES?
PC: “We have multiple things going on at the Union: articles, blogs, content creation, social media, a podcast and we also host events. One thing I wanted to highlight was that I always tell my team to include what we call actionable resources. So for example, if I'm writing an article about five YouTubers you can watch to help you study during online classes, I have to ask myself: Do I have basic information for consumers to take action or to do something after they read your article? If it's just a listing of the five youtubers with an occasional picture, it is not doing much for our readers. At the Union we keep asking if we can take that one step further. Include things like the links for you to go into, or the youtubers’ socials and how to contact them.
Another side of things is like our events. We empower them through having these annual events where people outside the Union can interact with those inside the Union. I feel like bridging the gap goes back to just the first day that I started the Union: bridging that gap between international schools that seems like an invisible barrier. We just want to connect with each other more and also have each other's voices empower and uplift each other.“
H: WHAT’S THE FUTURE OF THE UNION?
PC: “I feel like, if possible, I want The Union to grow it to a larger network of Southeast Asian schools. Currently we have a lot of Thai schools involved, and members that are from abroad. However, I feel like if we're able to grow our chapters in more schools in Southeast Asia, we'll be able to tap into empowering more people. More people will be able to connect with more students because, right now, having chapters allows us to give leadership roles to people within their schools and to give those people who are leaders to be able to encourage others to join us and to empower others as well..“
H: IS THE UNION CAPABLE OF SOCIAL CHANGE?
PC: “I feel like as the Union slowly grows, we do hold the potential to empower more people and can be capable of social change. The term ‘social change’ can mean different things to different people but for me it's about empowering people and getting them to realize that they can improve, and hold the ability to do more than they thought they could. If the Union can affect a person's mindset or thought and inspire someone today, or change a person’s mindset at the root of it all - even if it's only a small shift of thought, I would consider The Union successful.“
The Union is still accepting members from Southeast Asia. They offer a wide range of opportunities in journalism to student staff members, ranging from writing, photography, multimedia, interviewing, and events hosting, and workshops. New content is published weekly on The Union’s website under one of their sections: Student Life, Culture Blog, and Youth Voices. In addition to English and Thai articles, The Union also publishes multimedia, illustrations, articles, and podcasts.
Click the link to read the latest addition to The Union International!
