Muskie Alumnus Updates

Muskie alumni have been connecting with and contributing to their communities. Here are some updates on their work.

With the support of an ECA Alumni Small Grant, Yana Tserukhava, a 2004 fellow from Russia, partnered with 11 volunteers from the Voronezh Scout Organization to teach children at the Children’s Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Grafskoye the value of teamwork and cooperation. She and her colleagues organized day of recreational activities and games for 46 of the children, 14 years of age and under, which included football, badminton, and painting, among others. The children were divided into four groups and were asked to work together to create team names and mottos. Ultimately, through their participation in the day’s event, the children were able to further develop their interpersonal skills, teamwork skills and as well skills in communicating with adults.

Shams Mustafayeva, a 2008 fellow from Azerbaijan studying Public Affairs at Syracuse University, worked with Conflict Management Center Deputy Director Sarah Peterson and two other Maxwell graduate students to design a Cross-Cultural Communication Workshop for the Conflict Management Center at Syracuse University.

The team designed the training session based on "Culture Matters," the Peace Corps Cross-Cultural Wordbook and Trainer's Guide. The workshop was held on Saturday, January 24th and was a huge success.  According to the workshop evaluations and comments, the participants found the content very relevant and the structure and methodology of the training very effective.

As part of her academic program, Galina Nam, a 2007 fellow from Uzbekistan, studying Education at the University of Utah, is a development intern at GlobalSoul International.  In her time with GlobalSoul International, Galina developed and implemented an educational exchange program between a secondary school in Ethiopia and the Entheos Academy in Kearns, Utah.  The partnership was designed to increase cultural awareness of both Ethiopian and American students and build mutual understanding and collaboration which is extremely important in the current era of globalization. The partnership provided a mechanism to teach geography, cultural appreciation, writing skills, and community involvement in a personal and meaningful way and also worked to reduce educational inequality, a major concern in many areas of developing nations, by providing basic supplies to the Ethiopian school.

Lusine Geghamyan, a 2008 fellow from Armenia, studying Education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, volunteered with AmeriCorps National Direct - Operation Food Search. The project is directed towards educating adults and elementary school children about healthy lifestyles, nutrition, diet and the food pyramid, good budgeting, the harm of obesity and types of food to avoid.  Luisne taught children culinary techniques and showed how to prepare certain types of dishes which are healthy and do not contribute to obesity. The children were particularly thrilled at the cooking part of the project and were able to take recipes and a portion of the food home to try with their parents.

Maria Pryamkova, a 2007 fellow from Russia, studying Business Administration at University of Missouri – St. Louis, was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, an honor society serving business programs accredited by AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Students are invited to Beta Gamma Sigma based on their academic achievement.

Muskie Alumnus Holds Workshop on CV Writing
Konstantine (Koba) Grdzelishvili (Muskie ‘03) and Nini Jokhadze (UGRAD ‘07) visited high school students in Gori as a part of Georgian Alumni Quarterly Events and held a CV-writing and motivational letter writing workshop.