Today is April 8, 2012 and I found out that I received the
Omprakash grant a few weeks ago. A lot has happened in those few weeks and I’m
still kind of in disbelief that I’ll be volunteering in Costa Rica for 3 months
this summer. Currently I’m finishing up my own classes for the semester,
grading and preparing for the Overseas Project Workshop in two weeks at work,
completing student teaching in 4th grade, and trying to not put any
of that stuff off because planning for the summer is more fun at the moment.
I’m excited about the trip, but there’s a lot to do before I go. I bought
tickets yesterday though, so that’s a start!
I’ve been putting off writing this first story for the
website because writing for an audience is a bit of a foreign concept for me.
Sure, I’ve written tons of papers for class before, but only teachers and
perhaps a few classmates read those. I’ve also sporadically kept up a blog
about my running, but that was more of a record for myself about my training
and race reports. Now that I’m writing, I think it will be a great experience
and easier to do now that I’ve started. Hopefully others will learn something
new and it will also be nice to have a record of my preparation, experience in
Costa Rica, and continued collaboration with Omprakash in the future.
I’d like to back up a bit and explain how and why I ended up
applying for the volunteer grant in the first place. As a graduate student, I
have an assistantship with a program called the Cultural Immersion Projects. In
these projects, undergraduate student teachers can choose to do part of their
student teaching in another culture- on an American Indian Reservation, in the
Chicago Public Schools, or overseas. As I began my work with this program, I
began wanting to go abroad and engage in service learning for a number of
reasons:
1. I
haven’t traveled abroad since getting back from Peru in 2006. From the time I
was about 10 to 22, I traveled every few years so it’s been a long time for me
to not have gone anywhere. As a graduate student with a whole summer free, I
decided to change that this year. Plus, how can I say traveling is one of my
hobbies if I never actually travel?
2. My
students inspired me to find a way to engage in service learning. As part of
their program, they are required to find a project that is unfamiliar to them
and pushes them out of their comfort zone. They then write a paper about their
experiences and what they learned. Last semester, their responses were amazing,
heartfelt, and very honest. They wrote about understanding the importance of
reciprocity in service learning- that they were not just the Americans coming
into a community to save the day. They really learned about the issues the
community was facing and worked together with community members on what would
be most helpful at that time. Reading these essays encouraged me to see if I
could figure out a way to make my summer useful to me and to others. It’s
turning out to be even more relevant and have more of an impact already than I
would have ever considered when I first applied for the grant in February.
3. My
Spanish is a little rusty. Since I haven’t been out of the country for 6 years,
my Spanish has also not been used for a while. I’ve been going to Spanish
language club here off and on and I can still hold a pretty good conversation,
but I’m looking forward to feeling like I really am proficient again.
4. I
wanted to actually ‘do something’ this summer. As a student and employee in the
academic world, it’s easy to feel that my work has no direct practical
application. I’ve taken classes, observed foreign language programs, and talked
to many people about my ideas and interests. Now it’s time to bring these
things together to work at a school where I hope my efforts will be apparent in
a real classroom.
So, that is just some background on how I landed here and
what I will be doing with Abriendo Mentes this summer. Right now, I’m mostly
focused on logistical concerns like flights, packing, doctor’s appointments,
subletting my apartment, etc. I have some background knowledge of the history
and education system of Costa Rica from my work with students who student teach
there, but hope to do more reading before I go. I also want to post a condensed
version of my grant application to give a better idea of what the projects are
that I will be working on at Abriendo Mentes while I am there. I am also
working on campus to make Omprakash better known. It is a fantastic
organization that has a very admirable mission. I am thrilled to become a part of
it.
For now, welcome to my profile and check back soon for an
update on what kind of work I think I’ll be doing there.
