News & Impact

Unlikely allies, Hudak Hendrix and Jose Douglas Martinez share a passion for globalizing education to broaden the horizons of students and educators in El Salvador and the U.S. In 2010, Hendrix, as part of the International Leaders in Education Program (ILEP), traveled to Indonesia for two weeks, where he was hosted by a local teacher and learned about the country’s education system. Martinez, as part of the Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program (TEA), studied teaching methodologies at Claremont Graduate University in California in 2011. Both Hendrix and Martinez found their careers and world views altered by these international experiences.

“Global Education is important because it’s required to help students find meaningful learning that will fit the changing context of a globalized world. It will prepare them for a future we cannot see yet.”

As a teacher in a classroom of primarily immigrant and refugee students, in a system lacking the organization and structure to support such learners, Meg Riley faces many obstacles as she lives out her commitment to the teaching profession. Meg teaches at an urban high school in  Tucson, Arizona, where nearly 40% of the students speak a native language other than English. One major challenge she faces is providing adequate instruction to her English Language Learners (ELL) in a district that has restrictions on the amount of language support students receive.

As the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) nears, an issue looms large in the minds of many: whether countries, communities, and world leaders have the political will to commit to sustainable development and green economies before it’s too late. Essie Parks, a leader from the Community Solutions Program (CSP), and the Division of Health and Social Sciences at the Tobago House of Assembly in Trinidad and Tobago, recently showed that political and environmental tipping points can coincide when community leaders take concerted action.