Cultural Education & Study Abroad Readiness

Dear Students,

I am so excited to be joining you and Teneisha and Aaron for ten days in Mexico in June!

I very much enjoyed meeting all of you and your families in March in Milwaukee and hope that your preparations for going to Mexico are continuing to go well.

Keep studying and practicing your Spanish as the more you can speak, the better you will be able to communicate when we get to Mexico! I have planned and led programs to many countries and have traveled a lot around the world, but I only speak a little Spanish so I look forward to having you and Teneisha and Aaron help translate for me as we meet with people in Cuernavoca and Mexico City.

You are all about to embark on the experience of a lifetime and I feel very privileged to have the chance to share it with you. There is so much to learn through traveling to another country and immersing in its culture and I know we will all learn a lot together about Mexico as well as about each other and ourselves. My hope for each of you is that you will learn and grow in ways that will impact you for the rest of your lives and I expect that will happen, as each time I go to a new culture I come back changed, and I think you will too!

I live in Vermont, but I am originally from Wisconsin, like most of you! I was born in Waukesha, near Milwaukee and graduated from college at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin. Sociology was the focus of my undergraduate studies and International Education is the topic I got my Master’s degree in.

I have three children (all older than you by a few years) but I have worked with hundreds of kids over the years as a teacher, houseparent, administrator, program planner and more. I look forward to getting to know all of you better in the weeks leading up to our Mexico departure as well as during the time we are traveling together. If you or your parents have any questions you can feel free to contact me at michelle@global-lab.org or 800 984 4522. I enjoy hearing about your CESAR activities from Teneisha as she shares what you are doing on the blog but would welcome any direct messages from you as well! In Mexico, Aaron will help all of you to post messages and pictures on the blog so that your friends and family back home can see and hear what you have been up to!

Enjoy the last weeks of school and keep studying your Spanish ! I look forward to meeting you all again in person on June 15 at the airport before we board our flight together to Mexico!

Sincerely,

Michelle

Michelle with the Prime Minister of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile