About Us

How It All Started...

Ripples Network News started as an idea 11 years ago. During a community meeting of K-8 students in an international school in Indonesia, several of the children began discussing how many "negative

things" they were seeing on the news. The school's students and teachers, living in a country that was then featured in the news as a place of extreme political unrest and one in which non-native

residents were in danger, received frequent messages of concern and worry from family members around the globe. What our families had seen on TV painted a "bleak" picture of Indonesia, despite the fact that

most of the unrest was occurring on the island of Java, hundreds of kilometers from the safety we felt in Borneo. Many of the events and stories reported on international news were shown over and over, and

some who viewed them interpreted each newscast as an independent event, despite the fact that many newscasts were recounting only one or two discrete stories, using different video footage for each

reporting. Viewers came away with a sense of widespread violence and fear.  Reflecting on these news stories, and the messages they had received from home, we collectively began to wonder about the possibility of starting a TV news station that told all the things that are going well in the world. "Most of what happens in the world is good," the students agreed. "Almost everything that we see around

us when we travel to so many places is people being nice to one another, but TV shows all the killing and hurting." One child questioned, "I wonder if that makes hurting and killing happen more? You know what I mean, if that's what we see all the time?" Another added, "Maybe if people saw more kindness on TV in the news, that would help more kindness happen?" Since the time of this conversation

we have confirmed in a variety of ways, as has the supporting research that has been done, that receiving, or even observing kindness, does

indeed fuel the likelihood of more kindness.  Kindness and compassion, like so many things, have a ripple effect, spreading out in all directions from each place they occur, frequently lifting the hearts of those they both directly and indirectly touch. Recently, the idea

of a TV news station was "morphed" into a new idea—an internet news magazine "by kids and for kids". The first students to step forward and embrace the mission of "telling the world's children what is going

well" and "letting them know how kids can make a difference," are the 27 second though eighth grade student reporters featured on this website. All of these students attend Horizons K-8 School in Boulder,

Colorado in the U.S., and all of them are committed to making a difference.  We are so very grateful to them for all they are doing, and to our generous co-editors, Sonny, Hope, and Neil, who have joined

us in this endeavor, with energy, passion, and deep conviction.

Thank you very much for visiting this website, and for supporting the mission and efforts of the RNN News Team. We hope your heart is lifted as a result of traveling these "e-zine" pages, and that you are

inspired to make a difference in any way you can. Today's ripples are sure to be tomorrow's waves.

Love,

Traci and Jeff

Our Mission:

Ripples Network News is an internet news magazine dedicated to reporting stories that children will both learn from and enjoy. RNN is dedicated to reporting stories that inform children about things that are going well, and that inspire them to become involved in some way. We want to lift other children's hearts so they believe that they can, in Gandhi's words, "be the change." We want to report on stories that send ripples of compassion and hope and positive energy out into the

world.  In this issue, we, the reporters, focus in large part, on the efforts of the 304 students of Horizons K-8 School who collectively have spent over 3,700 hours on a variety of service projects that

focus on "Making a Difference." In this holiday season of giving, we are also reporting on the work of several local, national and international organizations that are committed to making a difference

for people, animals, and environments.

The RNN News Team

Our Goal:

We want other kids to know that the world is a safer and more hopeful

place than we are often told or shown that it is. There are so many

good things going on in the world. We want to put our attention on

those things. Even in sadness, and during tragic events, there is so

much good that happens—people doing things, showing compassion and

courage, and helping others in ways they might not have if

circumstances were different. It is in times of sadness and tragedy

that we sometimes have the greatest opportunity to surprise ourselves,

and to help the most. We want to put our attention on that. We want to

inspire all kids to get involved in some way, and to make a difference

in the ways that they can.  We believe that when we take time to look

closely at our own lives, and to feel grateful for what we do have,

and then look outside our lives, and focus our love and attention

elsewhere, that our appreciation for who we are grows the most. We

want to focus our attention on that.

The RNN News Team

Our Gratitude:

We want to thank everyone who has contributed to the success of this

first edition of Ripples Network News—those who helped us solve

technology challenges, those who offered their creative ideas, and

those who showered us with moral support and encouragement.  It does

indeed "take a village" and we are very grateful to be a part of such

a loving village.

                    The RNN News Team

and Editors

How We Created Our Logo...

At first, the 27 of us brainstormed ideas

for the kinds of things our logo might have in it. Then each of us drew our idea for the Ripples Network News logo. We wanted it to show how kindness and compassion can spread out into the world. We wanted to show that, by working together, we can make a big difference. We created the logo you see here by putting all of our separate ideas

together into one image.