The World is a Living Breathing Book

Every institutions should be able to work from anywhere on the planet via access to travel and technology. Every family, not only families with the means to spend thousands of dollars to take their kids abroad during vacations, should be able to see the world. 

I remember as a kid my own family vacations where camping adventures mostly because that is what we could afford and bigger vacations meant that my parents had to save money all year long. Even then we all had to pile into the family station wagon and drive cross country because the flights were too expensive. It wasn't until college when I realized I could earn credit in a study abroad course and have it paid through my tuition that I was able to board a plane and leave mainland United States. Ever since, I take every opportunity to satisfy my wanderlust mostly because I want to understand the big picture and have a broader, more balanced worldview.

Through travel, I hope our students become global citizens empowered by exposure, connections and cultural understandings. During this trip, our group met a childhood friend of the President of Costa Rica and she said, "someone like you needs to talk to him" following a conversation our group had with her about agriculture (banana plantations) and the train system in this country. 

Our students are local activists. In New York City, students have participated in many events including the climate change march and peaceful protests against police brutality cases. So you can imagine my delight visualizing Satellite Academy student voice being heard globally in an attempt to problem solve and offer international solutions. When we return, I hope students take on more opportunities to act locally while thinking globally. 

This I know: Life is meant to be experienced not just talked about in a classroom.  In life, we need to know how to navigate, use our voices and make sense of different environments. The world is a classroom. 

Let's shift the idea of what school looks like by utilizing what we already know about the benefits of experiential learning and technology. The traditional model of school in a brick and mortar building with a teacher delivering information and students being assessed by a test is a narrow vision of what it means "to know." 

I believe in walking right through artificial barriers, breaking through barriers of injustice, jumping on a plane, going to other countries and becoming a global learner.

"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page" ~Saint Augustine