During International Education Week 2019 International Education Management (IEM) students Randall Yamaoka MAIEM ‘19 and Thi Nguyen MAIEM ‘20 served as volunteer coordinators for the International Education Week Fair at Monterey High School (MHS).
This annual event aims to promote cultural awareness in the local community and to support internationalization efforts in the K-12 school system. “Over the last five years, MHS has been planning for and then adopting the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum. As an IB school, they aim to develop students’ global-mindedness, intercultural competence, and foreign language skills. My class on K-12 Internationalization has been partnering with MHS for four years, collaborating on projects related to curriculum development, teacher training, infusion of technology into the curriculum, and more. I’m delighted that students are willing to go beyond the classroom and volunteer additional time as Randall and Thi have done in coordinating Middlebury Institute student engagement in the MHS International Education Week Fair,” says Professor Katherine Punteney.
Each table at the fair represented a different country. Yamaoka and Nguyen recruited fellow Institute students to participate alongside MHS students and teachers.
“I was really impressed by the Monterey High School Students for their leadership! It was a wonderful event for MIIS students as well as Monterey High School students to collaborate and promote cultural awareness” said Yamaoka, who has led the volunteer recruitment efforts for the fair over the last two years.
“The event was an excellent opportunity for my fellow Institute students to not only facilitate conversations about different cultures, but also to build positive relationships with the local community and better understand our roles as future international leaders” said Nguyen.
The IEM program offers opportunities to connect with the local community in an international context, furthering their professional experience in the growing field. Middlebury Institute courses such as Professor Punteney’s above and Service Learning: International and Domestic Community Partners with Professor Netta Avineri incorporate these local projects into their curriculum.
Eva Gudbergsdottir
eva@middlebury.edu
831.647.6606
International Education Management alumni Yuki Ueda MAIEM ’17 and David Saide MAIEM ’15 recently completed the 2019 Academy for International Education, an an intensive yearlong training program.
In the third week of November each year, at universities across the United States, International Education Week showcases the diversity of cultures in our institutions and the benefits of global learning. We did a quick poll of some of our recent IEM alumni about what events they and their colleagues were organizing this year.
International Education Management alumna Anna McCreedy (IEM ’17) was awarded the Rising Star Young Leader Award at the NAFSA: Association of International Educators Region 12 Conference in Pasadena, California in November 2019.
