Kaira E. ('01)
Monday July 16, 2007 10:16
...So, this past year, I have completed most of the required classes, passing with A's!!! and now...i will begin student teaching this Fall!!!! We are all required to complete 2 semesters of student teaching, so by May '08, i will finally have my bilingual teaching credential!!
I hope to find a community school to work at, one in which all the staff are on the same page in terms of providing a quality, interactive, multicultural curriculum to our young people....so if anyone has suggestions on any school I should look into, please email me...
AND LASTLY, I just wanted to let you all know how impressed i have been by the SDSU [San Diego, CA] Bilingual Teaching Credential Program, which is run by the Department of Policy Studies in Language and Cross-Cultural Education. The professors are dedicated to making sure that teacher candidates learn how to empower their students! The program is all about how to connect community and social justice issues to the lives of students!!! So all of my involvement and experience in community organizing has been of tremendous value to me, making classes easier to get through as I am familiar with many of the concepts and popular education strategies....
THANK YOU for all the support, all your continued dedication to social justice- I can not express enough how just being a part of this worldwide community that is dedicated to changing the world gives me such energy and inspiration to get through this program so i can begin working in the classrooms, where there is such a need for teachers of color who can relate to where the students come from and who are dedicated to empowering them with the critical thinking skills needed to survive & thrive in our complicated world...
~ kaira
Kordnie-Jamillia Lee '04
Saturday April 14, 2007 6:37
I currently work for Beyond Emancipation, an Oakland non-profit that works with 18-24 year olds who have been in the foster care system. I am the Youth Engagement Coordinator helping to map out the first Alameda County Youth Adult Partnership of county based agencies and former foster youth working together for local policy change. I am also gearing up to go back to school to finish my undergraduate degree in youth services administration and non-profit management. In January 2007, Casey Family Programs awarded me the National Ruth Massinga Award for outstanding leadership and volunteer service. My participation in WB gave me access to a network of supportive people, learning skills I have been able to apply when traveling (I am planning to go to Mexico in June) and the opportunity to encourage other former foster youth that there are chances to fulfill dreams that don't fall in line with the hustle and bustle of everyday life. I also continue to volunteer for WB as a Travel Advisor.
Laura Gomez '99
Saturday April 14, 2007 6:33
“Todo es circular, incluso aquello que a ti te parece lineal no es más que una línea curva; por eso, cada vez que tus pasos te separan del punto de partida, en lugar de estar alejándote de él, cada vez lo tienes más cerca.” Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
It was over 8 years ago that I became a World Bridges participant. At that time I did not realize that my own “travel journeys” were just beginning. I have since traveled to over 3 continents and over 12 countries, including Italy, Cuba, Brazil and Colombia. I have worked in 4 different activist and international non-profit organizations while also finishing college and obtaining a M.A. in Sociology/Latin American Studies.
I have maintained contact with WB and in 2001-2003 I became actively involved as a volunteer and sat on the Advisory Board. I left the Bay Area for a couple of years and now that I am back, I have immersed myself in the program and organization.
Throughout all these years I have carried the legacy of World Bridges in my life, it is now that I see the profound change that it brought to my perspectives on change, tolerance and global issues. World Bridges and its founders are responsible for showing me the good in people and solidifying my determination to change that which is still wounding the world.
Bouapha Toommaly ’98
Thursday February 8, 2007 10:03
After the leadership exchange, I continued on as an Organizer with the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, working on environmental justice in Richmond and Oakland. In 2001, I coordinated the youth component of the Second National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in Washington, DC, where youth participation greatly impacted the final documents and principles. I stayed in DC to work for the Rural Coalition on issues of economic justice, land struggle, agriculture and free trade, and in 2004 experienced electoral politics with National Voice as the Asian Pacific Islander American Organizing Director. This summer I moved back to Oakland and worked on the "Ron Dellums for Mayor" campaign. My experiences with the leadership program strengthened my vision of working for a just and sustainable world. I have since made a solo-trip to Thailand and my home country of Laos.
JoAnn Evangelista ’00
Thursday February 8, 2007 9:57
After completion of the leadership exchange in 2000, I have been managing health education and youth development programs for teens in North San Mateo County. I have led prevention and health promotion efforts that build community participation and youth voice. My work has taken me to intercambios with NGOs in Mexico that also focus on adolescent reproductive health issues as a human rights/social justice issue. There I exchanged my experiences working with youth of color/immigrant youth communities in the U.S. with other people doing innovative projects in Mexico utilizing youth voice on topics that are cultural taboos. I visited the Philippines for the first time and reconnected with the deep roots of my family. WB was an opening to the world. It made me acutely aware of the impact each action has on every other action, person, and living being, the positive impact that we must all work for in the world, and inspiration to build resilient communities through its young people and other community-based approaches.
Elizabeth Gonzalez ‘04
Thursday February 8, 2007 9:55
I continue to work with De-Bug, leading a writing program in San Jose with women transitioning from incarceration. I also volunteer with Californian’s For Justice, a statewide group that works for racial equality and education reform. I traveled to New Orleans in May with other De-Bug folks to talk with workers rebuilding after Katrina. Traveling to Guatemala with WB for 3 months made me aware of the horrible things that have happened in other parts of the world that so many of us could not imagine. I felt a sense of independence that I had never felt in the U.S. Though my family is not from Guatemala, I felt a sense of belonging that was unique for me. The tranquil feeling of not standing out made me feel safe. My experience there is something I will never forget and I still look for ways to impact the community where I lived. Thank you for the opportunity.
Angel Luna '04
Thursday February 8, 2007 9:51
I am very grateful that I got the chance to see Brazil, a part of the world where there are people just like me, folks that share the same desires, aspirations and struggles. I met myself in another land. It made me open my eyes to a new world of ideas. I am glad that I witnessed foreign lands and hold enough memories to tell everyone I know about the place that I went and how similar we are, and that they should travel, too, to expand their minds and hearts. After the trip, I went to my parents’ hometown of Oaxaca for a couple months. It was a beautiful experience that reinforced my belief that experience is the ultimate authority. Recently, I went back to school to try to better myself, though I doubt the education system of the states will teach me more than what I experienced in my trips. My passion and my love is working with folks from my community and expressing myself through graphic design and writing at De-Bug.
Leticia Montana (’04)
Leticia Montana
Tuesday September 5, 2006 10:42
I have continued traveling since being in the World Bridges program, and have been to Italy, Spain, France, Ireland, Scotland, and England. I think the program made me addicted to traveling. I graduated from Saint Mary's College (CA) in May 2005 and now I am working for UCSF at San Francisco General Hospital. I am the Clinical Study Coordinator for Critical Care. My job is crazy/intense, but I enjoy it.
Angelica Barrera-Ng (’02)
Angelica Barrera-Ng
Tuesday September 5, 2006 10:41
I got married in 2004 in Los Angeles. I have been attending Cerritos College since we moved here and I am following a pre-med program of classes before I transfer to a four-year institution. After the [World Bridges] experience, I was able to travel to New York, Oregon, Michigan, Wisconsin, New Orleans, Iowa, Hong Kong, and a small part of Mainland China. I have been on the Dean's List for two consecutive semesters and was added to the National Dean's List, as well as to our local chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (an honor society). I fill my time off school with volunteering at a hospital and last semester I worked at a clinic. I am currently the president for a club in school named Chicanos/Latinos for Community Medicine (CCM) and I have been able to attend several school conferences because of CCM and my involvement in Project HOPE (Health Opportunities and Pipeline to Education). World PULSE/Bridges was a memorable experience and I hold dearly the time we spent in training doing activities as a group for those eight months. In addition, the program allowed me to fulfill my life dream to visit Italy. I am a better person because of the experience and the opportunity I was given.
Andrea Rodriguez (’00)
Andrea Rodriguez
Tuesday September 5, 2006 10:38
I am here at UCLA, finishing up my BA in World Arts & Cultures with a dance emphasis and a minor in Chicana & Chicano Studies. I will be traveling to Senegal, Africa this summer to do a two-week homestay in Dakar, and a three-week dance intensive to study under Germaine Acogny, who is a contemporary African dance artist. In the fall, I will begin the Interactive Media MFA program at University of Southern California’s School of Cinema and Television. I miss the Bay and my loved ones at home. Be blessed, love Draya
