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Community Service | Seeds
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Alaska
SARAH CLORE:
Wake Forest University, B.A. cum laude,
English. At Wake Forest Sarah was a member of
Sigma Tau Delta English Honor Society, Omicron
Delta Kappa Leadership society, worked as an
editor of the campus literary magazine, and was
the community service coordinator for Kappa
Delta sorority. Sarah spent a semester studying
Medieval & Tudor literature and creative writing
at the University of Kent, in Canterbury,
England. After teaching first grade in Los
Angeles last year, Sarah moved to Washington,
DC, where she now works at the Jane Goodall
Institute. This will be Sarah’s fifth summer
with Putney. She participated as a student in
Putney Student Travel's pre-college Excel
program at Amherst College in 2000, served as a
Resident Advisor at Excel at Amherst College in
2004 and 2005 and last summer led Putney’s
Community Service program to Dominica.
JONATHAN KATHREIN:
University of California at Berkeley, B.A.
American Studies. While studying at National
University of Ireland in Galway as a junior,
Jonathan traveled the Irish countryside by bus
and bike, and then set out to see other parts of
Europe including Italy, Germany, the
Netherlands, and Iceland. He has been as far
away as Patagonia, China, Costa Rica, Slovakia,
and many places in between. Jonathan recently
completed a five day bike ride from Budapest,
Hungary, to Krakow, Poland. After college,
Jonathan founded a non-profit organization
called Future Leaders For Peace, which works
with young people in California, Hawaii, and
beyond. He has written a children's book called
Don't Fear The Shark, which is based on
his personal experiences. He loves to surf,
snowboard, hike, play music, be with people, and
spend time in the outdoors.
Argentina
SARAH MCKELVEY:
University of Vermont, BA, English with honors.
Sarah's interest in travel began in high school
when she explored Europe with her Overseas
Program. Since then Sarah has continued to
explore the world. She spent her junior year in
college studying and volunteering in Santiago,
Chile. She designed and taught a children's art
course at a local community center and also
volunteered twice a week to help teach English
at a low income high school. While there she
had a chance to explore the Andes, the Atacama
Desert, the salt flats of Uyuni, and venture
into Bolivia and Argentina. After graduation,
Sarah moved to Seattle where she volunteered
with the St. James ESL program and the Gage Arts
Academy. Her interests include painting,
hiking, kayaking, and West African dance. This
will be Sarah's second summer in Argentina with
Putney. She led Putney’s Language Learning
Argentina program in 2006. She is fluent in
Spanish.
JONATHAN PERRY:
Tufts University, B.A. Spanish and Anthropology.
Born in Caracas, Venezuela and raised in a
bilingual and bicultural family, Jonathan's
passion for discovering new cultures began early
in his life. He currently works with the
Council on International Educational Exchange (CIEE)
counseling international high school, college,
and professional participants through their home
stays, work exchanges, and traineeships in the
United States. Jonathan has also taught
English as a Foreign Language to the local
immigrant community in Boston. He has traveled
widely in South America, Europe, and Asia,
speaks Spanish fluently, and is conversational
in Brazilian Portuguese. In addition to his
love of travel and cultural learning, Jonathan
enjoys soccer, jazz and Latin music, and
reading. He is fluent in Spanish.
Costa Rica - Group A
LINDSAY PURNELL:
Boston College, B.A., Political Science and
Hispanic Studies. While at Boston College,
Lindsay dedicated much of her time to service
and social justice work. Beginning her freshman
year, she volunteered at a homeless day shelter
for men and at the Catholic Worker community
house in downtown Boston. During her sophomore
year Lindsay was nominated for and received the
Sophomore Scholar in Romance Languages award.
In her third year, she studied at the
Universidad de Complutense in Madrid where she
completed a final research project on
contemporary international relations. In her
final year at BC, she traveled to Nicaragua to
volunteer with an eco project that builds water
filters and transports them to poor rural
villages in the countryside. She completed the
Global Proficiency Program at Boston College,
earning her a distinguished honor from the Vice
President. She will be attending law school in
the fall. Lindsay has traveled extensively
throughout Western Europe, Morocco, Japan, and
Australia. She is fluent in Spanish.
DAVIN DEARTH:
University of Denver, B.A., magna cum laude,
Phi Beta Kappa, University Honors, Spanish &
English Literature. During his junior year at
the University of Denver, Davin studied Spanish
art and film in Salamanca. While in Spain he
completed the 450-mile Camino de Santiago on
foot and participated in the Running of the
Bulls in Pamplona. At the University of
Denver, Davin was a Martin Luther King Jr.
Scholar, was a member of the University of
Denver Soccer team, and as a senior received
Highest Departmental Honors for his honor's
thesis, Postmodern Spanish Cinema: The Films
of Julio Medem. His travels have taken him
to Ireland, Mexico, the Czech Republic, France,
Scotland, and Costa Rica. Last year Davin led a
Putney Language Learning program in Spain. He
is currently a Spanish teacher in Fort Collins,
Colorado. His interests include travel, skiing,
soccer, climbing, fishing, and film. Davin is
fluent in Spanish.
Costa Rica - Group B
VIVIANE
SABAT:
Northwestern University, B.S. Journalism, Medill
School of Journalism. Growing up, Viviane split
her time between South Florida and Brazil. At
Northwestern she was a community assistant, a
recruitment counselor, and a peer advisor, and
interned in TV newsrooms in Florida and West
Virginia and at UBS Financial Services. In the
fall she will start work in industrial
management in Chicago. Viviane enjoys dancing
with Northwestern¹s Ballroom dancing group,
BLAST, and is excited to continue practicing her
Salsa dancing in Costa Rica. Viviane is
fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.
GREG McCLUNG:
Union College, B.A. Latin American & Caribbean
Studies, English minor. Greg began his
adventurous traveling in high school when he
decided to spend a full academic year as an
exchange student at lycée Raymond Quenou in
Lille, France, through American Field Service.
During his years at Union College Greg worked as
an Evening Writing Tutor for the Academic
Opportunity Program. He spent a semester in
Córdoba, Spain, and also in one in Sevilla,
Spain. He completed a month-long homestay with
a Garifuna community in Tela, Honduras. Greg
has worked as a teacher of Performance Arts for
high school students at a summer program at Yale
University and as a Writing Tutor for high
school students at a summer program at Union
College. Greg spent this past year as an
assistant teacher of English at the University
of Rennes in France. In his spare time Greg
loves to salsa dance, play soccer and chess,
run, and juggle. He is fluent in Spanish and
French.
Costa
Rica - Group C
SHANNON LEONI:
DePaul University,
B.A. Public Communication and Spanish. During
her junior year, Shannon studied abroad in Spain
at La Universidad de Sevilla where she studied
Spanish cinema and literature, living in a
residencia with 15 other students and
traveled extensively across Europe. Upon
returning, Shannon spent her senior year as the
coordinator of a DePaul Community Service group,
tutoring junior high kids in math and reading at
an inner-city Chicago school. Shannon also led a
University Ministry service immersion trip to
Durán, Ecuador for ten days with twelve other
DePaul students, and participated in a service
immersion program in Los Angeles, staying in a
homeless shelter for a week. Most recently
Shannon has been interning at Fairygodmother
Foundation, helping grant wishes for adults with
terminal illnesses. She loves dancing, reading,
and traveling wherever and whenever she can.
Shannon is fluent in Spanish.
SAMEER PUNYANI:
The Johns Hopkins University, B.A. International
Relations, Minors in Business, and Film. While
growing up in South Florida, Sameer made
frequent trips to India to visit extended family
and friends; other trips with the family have
taken him to Nepal and Mexico. While at Johns
Hopkins, he co-founded a Hindi a cappella group,
served as a Teaching Assistant for various
business classes, and was Secretary and
Vice-President of his fraternity. He spent a
summer abroad in Salamanca and Madrid through
the Escuela Internacional and International
Studies Abroad programs. His travels have also
taken him to Ecuador on a mountaineering trip
through Hopkins. This past fall he completed
the Semester at Sea Program which took him to 10
countries around the world. Sameer is fluent in
Spanish.
Costa Rica - Group D
BETH WILLIAMS:
Wesleyan University, B.A. Latin American Studies
& Government. During her junior year, Beth
participated in a National Outdoor Leadership
School mountaineering and sea kayaking course in
the Patagonia region of Chile, where she also
became a certified Wilderness First Responder.
While at Wesleyan, Beth found her niche
advocating for global women's health issues with
Planned Parenthood. Her interest in
international women's health led her to complete
a senior research project on reproductive rights
in Latin America, and to publish a number of
articles on women's sexual health. Since
graduation, Beth has worked at a winery in
California's Napa Valley, traveled to Thailand
and Vietnam, and is currently working as a
communications intern for a women's rights
non-profit in Seattle. Beth is an avid hiker
and climber, and recently ran her first full
marathon. This will be Beth’s second summer
with Putney. Beth led a Putney Community
Service program to the Dominican Republic in
2006. She is fluent in Spanish.
BRYAN CLARKE:
Saint Lawrence University, B.S. Psychology &
Spanish. While at Saint Lawrence, Bryan worked
as the director of the Spanish Writing Center
helping students to refine their academic
essays, and hiring and organizing staff. He also
interned at Step By Step, Inc. in Ogdensburg,
New York helping to bring services, support, and
care to persons discovering and recovering from
mental health issues. Bryan was a resident at
La Casa Latina at Saint Lawrence where he worked
together with his housemates to spread awareness
of Latino culture to other students on campus.
During his junior year, Bryan studied abroad in
San José at the University of Costa Rica. He
has also traveled to Mexico, Spain, Nicaragua,
and Ecuador. During the summers 2001-2005 Bryan
worked as a camp counselor at Camp Fatima in
Iron Works, New Hampshire. Bryan is fluent in
Spanish.
Costa Rica - Group E
EMILY ROSE SMITH:
Wells College, B.A. International Studies, Minor
in Spanish. Emily’s love of the Spanish language
and Hispanic culture were inspired at an early
age by her mother, a bilingual elementary school
teacher. She has traveled throughout Mexico and
Guatemala. She spent her junior year of high
school living in Leon, Spain and her junior year
of College studying in Santiago, Chile and
volunteering for Un Techo Para Chile, helping
impoverished women with job skills training. In
her spare time Emily enjoys camping, hiking and
dancing. She loves to travel and hopes to work
with international non-profits. She is fluent
in Spanish.
BLAKE CHALFANT:
The University of Georgia, B.B.A. Marketing.
Blake’s passion for traveling was first sparked
when he traveled throughout Europe as a junior
in high school. Since then he has been
fortunate enough to visit over 15 countries in
Europe and Latin America. He lived in Costa
Rica for first half of last year where he
studied business and Spanish, and volunteered as
a PE teacher at a local elementary school.
Blake has also worked as a camp counselor and
the head of canoeing at the Westminster Summer
Camp in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. This
fall Blake plans to earn his second
undergraduate degree in Spanish while studying
at the Universidad de Palermo in Buenos Aires,
Argentina. In his free time Blake enjoys
playing tennis, basketball, surfing,
snowboarding, and, of course, traveling. He is
fluent in Spanish.
Costa Rica - Group F
MICHELLE SRIWONGTONG:
Brown
University, B.A. International Relations.
During her junior year at Brown, Michelle
studied abroad in Senegal and discovered her
love for traveling and learning languages. The
following summer she helped start ChangeThis,
a non-profit online publishing group based in
New York City. Her senior year she was captain
of Brown’s Division I Women's Soccer team. Since
graduation, she has been a bike and Segway tour
guide in Paris, worked for the Thai government
in Los Angeles, and studied Spanish in Buenos
Aires. Michelle spent this past year in Brazil,
where, after a few months of volunteer work in a
favela, she taught English in Rio de
Janero. Michelle loves food, cooking, dancing,
soccer, futevolei, capoeira,
music, books, and nature. This will be her third
summer with Putney. She led a Global Awareness
in Action program in Senegal in 2005 and a
Community Service program in Nusa Penida,
Indonesia in 2006. Michelle is fluent in
Spanish.
PETER
OLIVIER:
Tufts University, B.A. International Relations
and Spanish. Peter fell in love with Central
America while spending a gap year between high
school and college living with a local family
and studying Spanish in Nicaragua. Since then he
has traveled extensively on his own through
Central and South America, Western Europe, and
Morocco, including a January 2007 research trip
to Venezuela just after President Chavez's
re-election. He spent his junior year studying
at the Universidad Torcuato di Tella, and UMSA
in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Peter is currently
interning at the International Institute of
Boston's Department of Microfinance, and looking
to continue his interest in Development
Economics in the fall. He is a self-proclaimed
rope-swing expert, an avid Frisbee and soccer
player, and enjoys reading, writing, black and
white photography, and live music. This will be
Peter’s third summer with Putney. He
participated as a student on a Community Service
program in Tanzania and served as a Resident
Assistant for Excel Oxford/Tuscany in 2004.
Peter is fluent in Spanish.
Costa Rica - Group
G
NATALIE
COLEMAN:
Wesleyan University, B.A. Philosophy. Natalie’s
love for travel began after high school, when
she took a year to explore before starting at
Wesleyan. During that time, Natalie completed a
semester at NOLS in the mountains of the
American West, spent three months traveling and
working throughout New Zealand, and spent two
months in a small fishing village in Baja,
Mexico. In the fall of 2006, Natalie completed a
semester abroad in Valparaiso, Chile, where she
attended a local university and was able to
continue her studies in philosophy, art, and
literature, participate in local theater
productions and explore the country and culture.
Natalie has worked a wide variety of jobs while
in college, including at a cattle ranch in
Wyoming, a vegan restaurant in Connecticut, and
a Youth Hostel in Chile. Apart from travel and
her academic pursuits, Natalie enjoys yoga,
drawing, playing guitar, and rock climbing.
Natalie is not new to Putney’s Community Service
programs. She spent two summers in high school
as a Putney student working in Tanzania and then
in Montana on the Blackfoot Indian Reservation.
She currently holds a WFR (Wilderness First
Responder) certificate. She is fluent in
Spanish.
HAMILTON BOGGS:
Duke
University, B.A. History, Minor in Economics.
After college, Hamilton worked at Colegio
Bilingüe New Horizons in the Dominican
Republic. This experience solidified his love
of international travel and his resolve to
continue pursuing a career in education. After
a year in the Dominican Republic, Hamilton
accepted a position at Woodberry Forest School,
a boarding school in central Virginia, where he
lives on dorm, teaches 10th graders, and coaches
tennis and personal fitness. Hamilton has
traveled throughout Southeast Asia, Europe,
Central America, South America, and the
Caribbean, including living and studying for six
months in Argentina while at Duke. In addition
to his love for international travel, Hamilton
also enjoys playing and coaching tennis, hiking,
and spending time with his family. He is fluent
in Spanish.
Dominica
- Group A
JUDY
JARVIS:
Vassar College, B.A., Media Studies, Psychology.
At Vassar, Judy worked as a peer tutor in
Vassar¹s Writing Center and was co-Editor in
Chief of Vassar’s Miscellany News. She is in her
fifth year of writing weekly music reviews as a
columnist for the Lancaster New Era. Judy
has volunteered as a squash instructor for urban
youth and for two years lead science projects
for elementary school kids at Vassar Farm. A
member of the Varsity squash team and co-captain
of the Vassar Ultimate Frisbee team for two
years, Judy enjoys all types of athletic
activities, and is a major proponent of any and
all games. She has studied in London, and
traveled in Scotland, France, and Barbados. This
will be Judy’s second summer with Putney. She
served as a Resident Advisor at Putney's Excel
at Amherst College in 2006, where she was also
the community service coordinator.
MIKE
OSTER:
Elon University, B.S. Biology, Philosophy
Minor. During his time at Elon, Mike was a
teacher’s assistant, Vice President of the floor
council, and was involved in a research project
to find out how ethics affected the peer review
process. In his spare time he was also highly
involved in extracurricular intramural sports.
After graduation he accepted an internship
aboard the Schooner SoundWaters as a
deckhand/educator teaching sail handling and
ecology in Long Island Sound. He then returned
to the Schooner for a second season as the Head
Educator and Senior Deckhand. Mike now works
with the Catalina Island Marine Institute as a
marine science instructor teaching 4th-12th
graders outdoor education in a marine
environment. He is currently finishing his
fourth season and is looking forward to his
fifth this fall. Mike has had opportunities to
travel through Great Britain, the Galapagos
Islands, Australia, Fiji, Mexico, and the
British Virgin Islands on both school-led and
personal ventures. In his free time Mike loves
to be outdoors playing guitar or soccer, or
snorkeling and spear-fishing in the waters of
southern California.
Dominica
- Group B
INGRID BURROWS:
Bard College, B.S. Multi-Discipline Studies of
Indigenous Cultural Survival. While at Bard
College, Ingrid coordinated a volunteer
organization called Building Community; a club
which traveled twice a year to Akwesasne, a
Mohawk reservation in northern New York, for
service learning volunteer work. Since college,
Ingrid has worked with a Mayan women’s
cooperative of returned refugees, and with a
health practitioner training clinic in
Guatemala. She has led service-learning
programs to Dominica, and Puerto Rico and has
worked with AmeriCorps, designing summer and
after-school enrichment programs for underserved
youth in Poughkeepsie, New York. This past
March Ingrid spent 5 weeks farming in the
Eastern Caribbean on the islands of Saint
Vincent, Dominica, and Grenada. During the
warmer months Ingrid co-runs an organic
landscape and gardening company and handcrafts
her own jewelry line. She is a self taught
herbalist and nutritionist, and works part-time
with an independent coffee roasting company,
dedicated to social and environmental
transformation in the coffee industry.
DAKOTA CASSERLY:
University of Vermont, B.A. Business
Administration & Environmental Studies. While
at UVM, Dakota was an active mentor with the
Vermont DREAM Program, a youth mentoring
organization. He also played varsity lacrosse
and was a member of the Consortium for
Ecological Living (CEL). During the summer
after his junior year, Dakota attended UVM’s
Costa Rica Travel-Study Program where he studied
ecotourism and culture. After graduation,
Dakota worked as an Americorps volunteer with
the Tahoe Rim Trail Association, and received
the State of Nevada’s Americorps Volunteer of
the Year award. The following year Dakota
taught English in Thailand and explored SE
Asia. Presently, Dakota is working on the final
stages of constructing a log cabin and is
working with the Great Basin Outdoor School on
the shores of Lake Tahoe as an
environmental/outdoor educator.
Dominican Republic -
Group A
ELIZABETH NOELL:
Georgetown University, B.A. English Literature
and Spanish Studies; Columbia University, M.A.
Secondary English Education. During her junior
year at Georgetown University, Elizabeth
traveled to Spain to study Spanish literature
and art history at the Universidad Complutense
de Madrid. Elizabeth has traveled extensively
in Spain and Western Europe. While at
Georgetown, Elizabeth volunteered at various
schools, tutoring programs, and women's
shelters. After college, Elizabeth spent two
years teaching at the middle school level in the
San Francisco Bay Area. She then moved to New
York and spent three years teaching middle
school while pursuing a Masters degree from
Columbia. She is currently a high school
English teacher in Boston. This will be
Elizabeth's fourth summer with Putney. She led
Putney Community Service programs to Costa Rica
in 2003 and 2004 and to Nicaragua in 2005. She
is fluent in Spanish.
JAMES WALKER:
Rice University, B.S., Earth Science, cum
laude. Yale University, M.A., International
and Development Economics. Born in Port of
Spain, Trinidad and Tobago to a
British-Grenadian father and a
Venezuelan-Trinidadian mother, James' life has
always been a multicultural adventure. During
his time at Rice he participated in two study
abroad programs, one in Rio de Janeiro and the
other in Costa Rica. James also had the
opportunity to travel to Japan, Singapore,
Western Europe and to many Caribbean countries
as part of his academic studies and professional
preparation. He fondly remembers teaching
English in Brazil, painting a stadium in Mexico,
and exploring the Caribbean coast of Panama.
James hopes to work in the field of country
development in the Caribbean or Africa and is
keenly interested in starting a non-profit
organization in his native Trinidad which will
link volunteers (corporate, school and
individual) with volunteer opportunities with
the overarching goal of fostering a culture of
volunteerism there. He speaks Spanish,
Portuguese and Caribbean Creole.
Dominican Republic -
Group B
ANNA MARKS:
Middlebury College, B.A. International Studies,
magna cum laude. Anna spent her junior
year in Spain, studying at the local
universities in Logroño and Segovia and
traveling extensively in Spain and throughout
Europe. Thanks to the travel bug awakened in
Europe, during the winter of her senior year,
Anna traveled to Nosara, Costa Rica for a month
long internship working with children. After
graduation Anna worked for a year with
Americorps in Boston, focusing on the
Massachusetts Promise Fellowship, which places
youth workers around the city. She developed
and facilitated the Cultural Kitchen program,
which uses food as a vehicle to help public
school students gain a greater understanding of
and appreciation for different cultures. Anna
plans to spend next year in Latin America doing
youth work. This will be Anna’s second year with
Putney. In 2006 she led a Putney Language
Learning program in Costa Rica. She is fluent in
Spanish.
HUGO LARA:
Middlebury College, B.A. English. At Middlebury
Hugo was the President of the Amnesty
International Chapter, an active member of the
Alianza Latina Americana y Caribeña a DJ at the
college radio station, and a proud member of the
College's environmental organization, the Sunday
Night Group. He received an Environmental
Fellowship to continue work on his senior essay
focused on the effects of colonialism on the
environment. Hugo's ancestry goes back to Peru
– he moved to the United States at age 7. He is
a native Spanish speaker.
Ecuador - Group A
BRENNA CASEY:
Boston College, B.A. English, University of
Notre Dame, M.F.A. Creative Writing. While at
Boston College, Brenna studied abroad at the
Universidad de San Francisco in Quito, Ecuador.
While there, she volunteered at the Center for
Working Boys in the north of the city where she
planned and taught classes for working children
and adult education classes for parents of
enrolled students.After graduation, Brenna moved
to Seattle and worked with a large non-profit
social service agency that caters to the needs
of the city’s low-income immigrant and refugee
population. She is currently the Sparks Fellow
in the University of Notre Dame’s M.F.A program,
the Managing Editor of the Notre Dame Review,
and facilitates a writing group for adults at
The Center for the Homeless in South Bend,
Indiana. She is at work on a book of
non-fiction. Brenna is fluent in Spanish.
MARK POMMER:
Butler University, B.A. English; Columbia
University, Ed.M. School Psychology. Mark's love
for travel began in high school when he spent a
summer playing soccer throughout Europe against
local teams. During his years at Butler
University, Mark served as leader of an
after-school youth program for high school
students, accompanied them to summer camps and
led week-long backpacking trips through the
Appalachian Mountains. He also spent a semester
studying literature in London, a summer studying
Spanish in Mexico, and tutored Latino students
in inner city schools. At Columbia University,
Mark studied Child & Educational Psychology and
conducted therapy sessions and provided
psycho-educational consultation at a high school
in Spanish Harlem. Mark has backpacked Western
Europe, New Zealand, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and
spent the summer of 2004 living with a host
family in Costa Rica and working in the local
public schools. Mark currently lives in Jackson,
Wyoming and works full time as a high school
psychologist. In his free time he avidly pursues
his love for skiing, snowboarding, backpacking,
photography, and fly fishing. This will be
Mark’s second summer with Putney. In 2006, Mark
led a Putney Community Service program to Costa
Rica. Mark is fluent in Spanish.
Ecuador - Group B
SARAH SUSSMAN:
Brown University, B.A. International Relations.
Sarah grew up overseas in the Philippines and
Indonesia from the ages of seven to sixteen.
While living abroad, she had the opportunity to
travel extensively throughout Southeast Asia and
Europe with her family and her school's theater
troupe. At Brown, Sarah facilitated and
coordinated a course on women's health and
sexuality, performed in numerous plays and dance
productions and spent three years as a member of
Brown's popular sketch comedy troupe Out Of
Bounds. Sarah spent the fall of 2004 exploring
Ecuador and volunteering for an environmental
NGO there before heading on to Peru to trek the
Inca Trail. Starting this fall, Sarah will be a
proud employee of Google in California. She is
fluent in Spanish.
STEPHEN BROWN:
University of North Carolina, Wilmington, B.A.
Spanish, Minors in History and Latin American
Studies. While at UNCW, Stephen spent a summer
in Ecuador studying at La Universidad de San
Francisco in Quito and living with a local
family. A year later Stephen was abroad again,
this time in Curitiba, Brazil, studying history
and literature. After the end of the semester
there he traveled from southern Brazil through
Argentina, Chile, and Peru, finally ending his
trip by reuniting with the family he had stayed
with in Ecuador. After graduating, Stephen
worked for UNC-EP, a statewide university
exchange program in North Carolina. He
interacted with students planning to go abroad
and also helped with orientation prior to
students’ departure. Currently Stephen is
pursuing a Masters degree in Latin American
Studies and Journalism at NYU. He is
specializing in social movements in Brazil and
Ecuador and immigrant stories. He was awarded a
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship to
encourage further study of Portuguese. Stephen
anxiously awaits a return to the Andes and the
rainforest of Ecuador. He is fluent in Spanish.
Hawaii
EMILY LEE:
University of Colorado at Boulder, B.A.
Linguistics, Phi Beta Kappa; University of
Hawaii at Manoa, M.A. Candidate Second Language
Studies, Specialization in Pedagogy. Emily
currently juggles various roles as writing
teacher for transnational undergraduate
students, graduate student, friend, co-president
of Hawaii Teachers of English as a Second
Language, and beginning tai chi
practitioner. Having taught English and tutored
French in Colorado and in Taiwan, Emily decided
to nestle for a while on the beautiful island of
Oahu after experiencing the cubicle life of an
editor, in order to refine her craft and skills
in language teaching. In addition to her calling
in teaching, Emily has also found inspiration in
ceramics, swimming, hiking, playing the koto,
eating, laughing, and learning about Hawaiian
music. A hybrid transnational herself, Emily
also speaks Mandarin and French.
NOAH
BALAZS:
Colby College, B.A. American Studies, Minor in
Philosophy. At Colby, Noah divided his time
between his studies, duties as Photo Editor of
Colby's newspaper, making pottery in the pottery
studio, playing club water polo, and leading
outdoor trips for The Colby Outing Club. For
three years he was a freshmen outdoor
orientation leader and served on the program's
selection and steering committee. He studied
abroad at Syracuse University's program in
Florence, Italy, where he lived with an Italian
family for nearly four months. Noah is currently
an assistant teacher at Shore Country Day School
in Beverly, Massachusetts. In his free time, he
enjoys cycling, music, reading, traveling, and
hiking.
India
- Group A
ZARA AZHAR:
Reed College, B.A. Economics. While at Reed,
Zara worked as a Peer Mentor, helping minority
students adjust to life at Reed. Zara visits
her grandparents in Chandigarh, India
frequently, and while there volunteers as a
teacher at Ashiana, an orphanage where she
teaches English and Math to children ages 3-12.
Last summer she received the Opportunity Grant
to travel to Pakistan where she worked as a
Research Analyst for Raasta, a development
consultancy and Hissar, an NGO. She conducted
fieldwork directly helping Muslim women access
local jobs. Zara traveled throughout Pakistan,
working in Eastern Sindh, where she surveyed
rural areas on their access to healthcare,
schools and other social services. Zara is
fluent in Hindi and Urdu.
MICHAEL
NEWTON:
Dartmouth College, A.B. Government, Honors.
While at Dartmouth, Michael focused his studies
on the development, resolution, and the overall
impact of global conflicts. His senior thesis
explored the effect of the September 11 attacks
on civil liberties within the United States. As
Student Body Vice President, Michael was
actively involved with on-campus politics. He
also worked with DREAM, a local mentorship
program. Since graduation, Michael has been
working in private equity in New York City. For
the past year, he has focused exclusively on
making cross-border growth equity investments in
India. It was through this first-hand exposure
that Michael developed his interest in Indian
culture and history. Most of Michael's free
time is spent exploring the outdoors -- hiking,
skiing, running or biking. This will be
Michael’s second summer with Putney. As a
teenager he participated in Putney’s Community
Service program in Tanzania and has traveled
extensively on five continents. Michael will be
attending Harvard Business School in the fall.
India
- Group B
MEHA
PRIYADARSHINI:
Wesleyan University, B.A. East Asian Studies.
Meha moved to the U.S. from India when she was
ten years old. Since then she has returned
several times and has maintained contact through
her work and studies. While at Wesleyan, she
spent a summer in India conducting a survey on
maternal mortality in tribal areas for an NGO in
Rajasthan. After graduating, Meha continued with
her interest in non-profits working at the
Women's Foreign Policy Group in Washington D.C.
for a year. She has since gone back to school
and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in History at
Columbia University. She enjoys traveling,
writing, cooking, watching Bollywood movies and
learning new languages. This will be Meha’s
second summer with Putney. Last summer she
worked as an instructor on Putney’s Excel China
program. Meha is fluent in Hindi and Mandarin.
PAUL
CAMPBELL: Vanderbilt
University, B.A.; Tufts University, The Fletcher
School of Law and Diplomacy, M.A.L.D. At
Vanderbilt, Paul volunteered with Habitat for
Humanity, and in Austin, Texas with Caritas, a
Cuban refugee aid service. After graduation,
Paul researched and wrote articles on Latin
American foreign policy for the Council on
Hemispheric Affairs in Washington, DC. Paul's
first experience with Putney Student Travel was
leading a Community Service program in Costa
Rica, after which he moved to Putney to work
full-time, hiring Putney's summer staff and
planning various programs. Before attending The
Fletcher School, Paul spent nine months in South
America, planning Putney programs in Ecuador,
Peru, and Brazil. Since Fletcher, Paul has
worked for a coral reef conservation program in
Mesoamerica, and an environmental policy group
in Washington, DC. He has led a Language
Learning program in Spain, a Cultural
Exploration program in Australia, New Zealand,
and Fiji, and spent two summers in Cuba as the
Assistant Director and the Director of Putney’s
Excel program there.
Nicaragua
ELIZABETH LEONARD:
Dartmouth College, B.A. Government, Minors in
Spanish and Art History. Liz first became
passionate about Costa Rica when she visited the
country on a month-long community service trip
in high school. She returned to Costa Rica
during her sophomore year at Dartmouth and spent
a semester volunteering at a day care center
outside of San José, and teaching English
through the YMCA Go Global program. While in
Costa Rica, she had the opportunity to travel
extensively throughout the country with her host
family. At Dartmouth, Liz mentored at-risk
teenagers in a rural middle school, interviewed
prospective students in the Admissions Office,
interned at the Alumni Relations Office, and
served as a teaching assistant for the Spanish
Department. In addition, Liz worked as a
marketing intern for Prisma Microfinance, a
global finance company headquartered in Boston,
which specializes in micro-loans to
entrepreneurs in Central American countries.
After graduation, Liz worked as a brand
consultant for Young & Rubicam Brands in New
York City. After 2 ½ years at Y&R, she decided
to follow her heart and is attending law school
this fall at the University of Pennsylvania to
pursue public interest law. She spent the
spring traveling around the world in countries
as diverse as Turkey and Cambodia. Aside from
traveling, Liz enjoys all things culinary, the
daily New York Times, and writing. This will be
Liz’s second summer with Putney. Liz led
Putney’s Costa Rica Language Learning trip in
2004. She is fluent in Spanish.
ALEX BRAND:
Wesleyan University, B.A.
Government. At Wesleyan, Alex majored in
Government with a focus on comparative politics.
His love for Latin America began in high school
when he traveled to Nicaragua with his father
for a medical service trip. Since then he has
been back to Nicaragua several times,
reconstructing hospitals and working as a
medical translator for ISLA (Interfaith Service
to Latin America). Between his freshman and
sophomore year in college, Alex returned to
Latin America, completing a NOLS semester in
Patagonia and traveling solo for nine months
through Central and South America. Most
recently, Alex spent six months studying in
Grenoble, France, where he also was able to
pursue his love of rock climbing,
mountaineering, and telemark skiing. He is an
avid chef and has worked in a variety of
restaurants over the past five years. He
currently holds a WEMT (Wilderness Emergency
Medical Technician) certificate, and is fluent
in Spanish and French.
Nusa Penida and Bali
ELIZABETH RHOADS:
Bryn Mawr College, A.B., magna cum laude,
Anthropology, concentration in Peace and
Conflict Studies. During her junior year at
Bryn Mawr, Izzy studied abroad in Bali,
Indonesia, where she focused on Indonesian
language, and Balinese Hinduism, arts and
culture. She returned to Bali this past winter
to conduct research for her thesis on cultural
preservation and regional autonomy in Bali.
While at Bryn Mawr, Izzy served as a an
orientation leader for Bryn Mawr's year-long
first-year student orientation program and as a
teaching assistant in both Anthropology and
Peace and Conflict Studies. She has also spent
six summers working as a counselor at a YMCA
overnight camp in northern Kentucky. Recently
awarded a Fulbright research grant, Izzy will be
returning again this fall to Indonesia to
conduct 10 months of research on the politics of
land ownership and distribution in Bali. Izzy
enjoys reading, spending time with friends and
family, laughing and telling jokes, learning
languages and experiencing new places, cultures
and people. She is proficient in Indonesian.
DYLAN FAGAN:Duke
University, B.A. Political Science. Dylan spent
four years in Durham, North Carolina, studying
with great teachers and riding his bicycle with,
and usually behind, some of the other gallant
Piedmont cyclists. He has been living in
Mongolia for the past year, as a guest
literature teacher at The University of
Humanities in Ulan Bataar by way of a Princeton
in Asia fellowship. His teaching experiences
have been of unending variety; he taught
beginner conversation skills, and helped his
class with a drama performance (a Japanese
horror film take on Macbeth) that earned the top
prize at the Ulan Bataar Shakespeare Festival.
He spent much of his out-of-class time rock
climbing with the Mongolian National Indoor
team, picking up the essential vocabulary like
'go!' and 'faster!' quite quickly. Dylan has
traveled extensively in North America, Europe
and Asia, pursuing all sorts of backcountry
sports and cuisines.
Senegal - Group A
ZODIAC MASLIN-HAHN:
Ohio University, B.A., magna cum laude,
African Studies. Having spent her childhood
moving between Puerto Rico, France, and Arizona,
Zodiac has always enjoyed exploring new
cultures. Before college, she took a gap year to
pursue her dream of backpacking through Europe
alone. In her second year at Ohio University,
Zodiac’s interests in French and Islam led her
to study abroad in Dakar, Senegal. While living
with a host family, she took classes and
volunteered teaching English at a street school.
The summer before her final year at Ohio
University, Zodiac interned with Amnesty
International in Washington, DC. Having grown up
on farms, she enjoys working in her organic
vegetable garden and cooking homegrown meals.
This fall she will begin teaching English at a
primary school in Besançon, France. Zodiac is
fluent in French and proficient in Wolof.
ALAN MLYNEK:
University of Michigan , B.A. Political
Science. At Michigan, Alan was a leader in
PROVIDES, an organization which sponsored
children in developing countries, and an active
member of the University of Michigan Rugby
Football Club. He served as a Resident Advisor
and graduated with distinction after three years
of study. During the six months before
graduating, Alan lived in Dakar, Senegal and
studied Wolof, African Literature, Drum, Urban
Sociology, and Political Conflict at the West
African Research Center, a subsidiary of
l'Université Cheik Anta Diop. During this time
Alan joined The Caimans, a Dakar rugby club, and
advanced to the National Semi-Finals while
playing along-side members of the Senegalese
national team. He traveled extensively both
inside and outside of Senegal, visiting The
Gambia, Guinea, and Mali. Alan is currently a
Program Instructor with the Close Up Foundation,
a civics education program in Washington, DC,
where he teaches high school students from all
over the country about our political system and
how students can become active members in it.
He is proficient in French and Wolof.
Senegal - Group B
REBECCA MONDICS:
Brown University, B.A. International Relations.
At Brown, Rebecca focused on the study of
politics, culture, and identity in international
relations, played for the varsity field hockey
team, and volunteered with a local elementary
school in Providence. During her junior year she
spent five months studying abroad in Dakar,
Senegal at l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop, the
West African Research Center, and the Baobab
Center. While in Senegal she enjoyed such
varied courses as Crisis Management and
International Law in Africa, African Dance and
Drumming, the Sociology of Development, and
African Literature. Rebecca traveled
extensively throughout Senegal, experiencing
time and again the Senegalese custom of
teranga, or hospitality. Rebecca enjoys
running, tennis, cooking, reading, and the
piano. She is fluent in French and proficient
in Wolof.
DILLON SMITH:
Georgetown University, B.S.F.S. Culture and
Politics. While at Georgetown, Dillon’s studies
concentrated on analyzing the role that religion
– more specifically a comparison between
Christianity and Islam – plays in various forms
of government. He also completed a certificate
program in African Studies. To pursue such
academic interests, Dillon studied abroad at the
Baobab Center, Université de Cheikh Anta Diop in
Dakar, Senegal and at the Université de Paris
IV–Sorbonne in Paris during his junior year of
college. Strongly influenced by his time abroad,
Dillon went on to work in the international
development field as an intern at the HELP
commission last summer. He has been awarded a
Fulbright grant for next year and will be off to
Mali to study the cultural and economic effects
of tourism in Timbuktu and the Dogon Country. He
enjoys running, reading, and writing. He speaks
Wolof and French.
Tanzania - Group A
KATIE GAUTHIER:
Saint Lawrence University, B.A., cum laude,
Government and African Studies. While at Saint
Lawrence, Katie participated in the Kenya
Semester Program, a multifaceted, cross-cultural
opportunity. After seeing a great deal of East
Africa, she concluded her semester studying
Swahili culture and religion on the historic
island of Lamu, an experience she considers one
of her most valuable. At Saint Lawrence, Katie
captained the Women’s Varsity Lacrosse team, and
worked in the summer as a camp counselor and
assistant soccer camp director in the
Adirondacks. She has spent the last two years
working in higher education, most recently as
the Assistant Director of Off Campus programs at
her alma mater. In her current position she is
able to help students study abroad on many
different programs. This will be Katie’s second
summer leading a Putney Community Service Trip
in Tanzania. Katie is proficient in Swahili.
JOSEPH MILLER.
DePauw University. B.A., Biology. Joseph was
first introduced to East Africa in 2001 through
the School for International Training's Wildlife
Ecology and Conservation semester abroad in
Tanzania. When not being chased by elephant
herds in the shadow of Mt. Kilimanjaro, he was
practicing Kiswahili and learning about
development and wildlife conservation. Joseph
returned to Arusha the following summer as a
volunteer with Aang Serian Peace Village, an
indigenous rights organization, where he
facilitated a course on Globalization and
Indigenous Knowledge. In 2006 Joseph embarked
on a 6 month journey to Tanzania, living out of
his backpack and traveling to remote areas of
the country less traveled by tourists. Joseph
spends his free time reading, playing guitar,
long boarding, and hiking with his dog, Dubu
(which means 'bear' in Kiswahili). In the fall
of 2007, he will begin graduate studies at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellow,
studying Geography and Kiswahili. Joseph is
proficient in Kiswahili.
Tanzania - Group B
JESSIE DAVIE:
St.
Lawrence University, B.A., cum laude,
English and Environmental Studies. During her
junior year Jessie spent a semester abroad in
Kenya participating in a cross-cultural,
experiential learning program. She considered
this experience so valuable that after
graduating from college, she traveled back to
Africa and lived and volunteered in a small
rural village in Ghana for nine months. She
worked for the Kopeyia Ghana School Fund (KGSF)
and was responsible for administering KGSF
activities at the local school as well as
teaching English classes to Junior Secondary
students. Jessie has also traveled to southern
Africa where she explored Mozambique, Swaziland,
and South Africa. She currently works for Clean
Air-Cool Planet as a coordinator for a global
warming campaign in New Hampshire. In the fall
she will move to Missoula, Montana to begin
graduate school. Jessie is proficient in
Kiswahili.
JOHN LINSLEY:
Saint Lawrence University, B.A., cum laude,
Government, History, and African Studies. While
at college, John interned with the state
assemblyman, worked as an EMT on the campus
rescue squad and in the local emergency room,
served as an admissions spokesperson, taught
whitewater kayaking, and was president of the
Outing Club. He spent a semester abroad in Kenya
during which he staffed air and ground
ambulances as a medic with Africa Air Rescue.
After graduation John studied Kiswahili at the
Danish Institute in Tanzania as a Fulbright Hays
scholar and led safaris in Amboseli National
Park. This year he taught history and geography
at the Stratton Mountain School. In the fall,
John will pursue graduate studies in
International Relations with a focus on
sub-Saharan Africa. He is a certified EMT,
Wilderness EMT, and American Red Cross
instructor. This will be John's third summer
with Putney Student Travel. He led
Community Service programs in Tanzania in 2005
and 2006. John is fluent in Kiswahili.
Tanzania - Group
C
HATTIE SHELTON:
St. Lawrence University, B.S. Psychology,
University of Maine, M.S. Human Development,
University of Denver, PhD Candidate, Child,
Family, and School Psychology. Hattie has
worked in the field of child development for
over eight years, working with infants through
adolescents. She has been the director at the
Child Development Lab at the University of
Maine, has worked as a counselor in a wilderness
therapy program for at-risk youth, and currently
works with children with disabilities as an
early interventionist. Hattie has traveled
throughout Europe, Kenya, and Central America.
While at Saint Lawrence, Hattie participated in
the Kenya Semester Program where she studied
many aspects of East African life and culture.
In her free time she loves to telemark ski,
knit, cook, and immerse herself in the outdoors.
This will be Hattie’s third summer with Putney.
She has led a Putney Community Service program
to Dominica and a Cultural Exploration trip to
Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. Hattie is
proficient in Kiswahili.
BRETT HARVEY:
Saint Lawrence University, B.S., cum laude,
Geology & Environmental Studies. While at Saint
Lawrence, Brett was active in the student-run
Outing Club and was an alpine ski racer. During
his junior year, Brett attended the Saint
Lawrence Kenya Semester Program where he studied
the culture, ecology, and religion of East
Africa. After graduation, Brett worked as a
facilitator of high school outdoor education
trips in the Sierra Mountains of California, and
led an adventure trip in Montana for at-risk
teens. Brett has also worked as a volunteer for
a nonprofit healthcare program in Kenya and
spent the last three winters coaching athletes
for the Jackson Hole Ski Club. Brett is an
accomplished skier, climber, and outdoor
enthusiast. This will be Brett’s fifth summer
with Putney Student Travel. He has led two
Community Service programs in Tanzania, and
Cultural Exploration programs in Southeast Asia,
and Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji. Brett is
proficient in Kiswahili.
Vietnam - Group A
NADIA NGUYEN:
Brown University, B.A. honors, Community
Health. While at Brown University, Nadia
focused on International Health, Human Rights,
and Development. In her free time, she
volunteered at a local women's resource center,
taught sexual education to at-risk urban high
school students, helped underserved families
access social resources such as free heating and
legal services, and tutored international
graduate students in English. Nadia was also a
member of the varsity gymnastics team, the
Orientation Welcoming Committee, and the
yearbook staff. An avid traveler, Nadia spent
her junior year in Copenhagen, Denmark where she
studied medical practice and policy, enjoyed
delicious Danish pastries, and explored Europe
as much as her travel breaks would allow her.
Next year, Nadia will begin her work with the
Consultation for Investment in Health Promotion
in Hanoi, Vietnam on a Howard R. Swearer
International Service Fellowship grant. She
enjoys cooking, going to concerts (especially
outdoor ones!), rock climbing, and traveling.
Nadia is fluent in Vietnamese.
FRASER KITCHELL:
Amherst College, B.A., Biology. During his time
as an undergraduate at Amherst Fraser was a
member of the cross country and track teams and
developed a love for mountain biking. He was an
active participant in the college outing club,
maintaining gear, leading trips, organizing
lectures and teaching mountain biking classes to
beginner and advanced riders. Additionally, he
actively participated in a variety of community
service projects, earning an award for community
involvement from the college this past spring.
Growing up in Seattle, Fraser spent his summers
in the wilds of Washington State where he
developed a passion for the freedom and
excitement of traveling - a passion that led him
to take two separate semesters off while in
college to see the world. During the second of
these semesters he and his brother spent three
months visiting Mongolia, China, Laos and
Vietnam. During recent summers he has worked in
biology labs, on construction sites, and, most
recently, as a deckhand on a charter fishing
boat based in Seward, Alaska. He enjoys
discovering new places, reading non-fiction,
most outdoor sports, and making things happen.
Vietnam - Group B
BROOKE PHAN:
Haverford College,
B.A. Anthropology. Brooke’s first experience
with travel was as a 1 ½ year old baby when she
left Vietnam with her family, traveled to a
refugee camp in Malaysia, and eventually settled
in Southern California. During college she was
a member of the Haverford Asian Students
Association, working with Philadelphia area
colleges and universities to increase awareness
and cultural sensitivity toward Asian and
Asian-American culture. One summer, with the
support of Haverford’s Center for Peace and
Global Citizenship she interned in Hanoi at the
Research Training Center for Community
Development. Another grant from CPGC took
Brooke to Eastern Europe to study the experience
of Vietnamese migration to the Soviet bloc
countries during the Vietnam War and to learn
first-hand about the difficult experiences of
more recent illegal immigrants from Vietnam.
Brooke is fluent in Vietnamese.
CHI NGUYEN:
Middlebury College, B.A. French &
Economics. At Middlebury College, Chi was the
president of the Asian Students Organization
which organized activities to promote diversity
and understanding of Asian culture through
workshops, cultural nights, guest speakers, and
artistic performances. In addition, he
volunteered in the community through two
programs: Page One Literacy and Community
Friends. His passion for volunteer services and
traveling began during high school where he
participated in community service projects in
France and Vietnam. In Paris, Chi worked in
under-privileged communities as a youth leader
in a local boys and girls’ club. After finding
tremendous success in France, he traveled to
Vietnam where he spent time working with farmers
in the rice paddies of the Mekong Delta. After
graduation, Chi has worked as a diversity
administrator at the Fenn School in Concord,
MA. In his spare time, he has enjoyed traveling
to Southeast Asia and Japan. This will be Chi’s
second summer with Putney. He led a Community
Service program in Vietnam in 2006. Chi is
fluent in Vietnamese and French.
Global Awareness in Action
Yale
Program Director
DIEGO MERINO:
Indiana University, B.A. Religious Studies & B.M.
Jazz Studies, Phi Beta Kappa. After college,
Diego joined Teach for America and taught for
two years in a Mexican immigrant neighborhood of
Chicago. He then spent a year in Mexico as a
researcher, educator, and translator for
nonprofit organizations dedicated to analyzing
the impacts of globalization on Mexico's rural
and indigenous populations. Diego then moved to
New York and spent a year as Dean at a college
preparatory charter school for low-income
students of color. Now, he continues his
solidarity and social-justice work at American
Jewish World Service, supporting grassroots
organizations in Latin America to promote human
rights and sustainable development. This will be
Diego's fourth summer with Putney. In addition
to his work as an instructor on Putney’s Excel
Madrid/Barcelona program, Diego has been
involved with the Global Action program since
its inception, leading the first Global Action
program to El Salvador in 2005 and serving as
Yale Program Director in 2006.
Yale
Program Assistant Director
KELSEY BURNS:
Saint Lawrence University, B.A. cum laude,
Spanish. Kelsey spent her junior year studying
at Colegio Mayor Isabel de España in Madrid,
Spain. In addition to studying Spanish
literature, art history, ecology, and theater,
she interned at the Durán Subastas gallery and
auction house, and taught English at El Colegio
de los Sagrados Corazones. At Saint Lawrence,
Kelsey worked as a peer tutor, a teacher's
assistant for the Spanish department, and in the
International Office for the Spain Study Abroad
program. She was a member of the women's
lacrosse team and the Outing Club. Kelsey has
traveled extensively in the United States,
Europe, and Latin America. This will be
Kelsey’s sixth summer with Putney Student
Travel. She has led a Language Learning program
in Spain and Community Service programs in
Ecuador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the
Dominican Republic. Kelsey works full time at
the Putney Student Travel office in Putney,
Vermont as an Associate Director and Leadership
Coordinator. She is responsible for organizing
Putney’s programs in Spain and in Ecuador and
hiring the Putney leaders. When she isn’t
traveling, Kelsey loves to hike, rock climb,
read, and dance. Kelsey is fluent in Spanish.
Cambodia
TIERNEY SMITH:
Niagara University, B.A., cum laude,
Education. In addition to her specialization in
Education at Niagara University, Tierney also
studied world religions including intensive
course work on Buddhism and Hinduism. This past
summer Tierney volunteered as a full-time
caregiver in Phnom Penh, Cambodia with the
organization No Child Left Out (NCLO). During
her 3 months there, Tierney cared for and
supported a group of 8 Khmer orphans, ages
4-12. She participated in volunteer programs,
revised and modeled the English curriculums for
teaching, taught basic child care skills,
hygiene, and AIDS prevention and awareness.
Tierney has taught social studies to middle
school students at Gaskill Middle School,
tutored high school students from diverse ethnic
and socio-economic backgrounds at Kenmore West
Senior High School, and worked as a teacher's
assistant for pre-kindergarten students.
Tierney is proficient in Khmer.
RAK
SAM:
University of California, Los
Angeles, B.A., magna cum laude, Phi Beta
Kappa, alumni scholar, Harvard
University, Graduate School of Education, Ed.M.,
SGA Diversity Award, Gates Millennium Scholar.
While pursuing his degree in international
relations and public policy, Rak helped to
establish and direct UCLA UniCamp Mentorship, a
nonprofit that provided youth mentoring to
underserved youths from high poverty areas.
Additionally, he volunteered as a counselor,
leader, and advisor for UCLA’s official charity,
UCLA UniCamp, which provided underserved youths
with summer camp experience, leadership
learning, and community service. Rak has also
been an assistant director of SAGE ARTS, Camp
Cavaignac, an arts and drama summer camp. While
pursuing his Master’s in Education at Harvard’s
Graduate School of Education, Rak served as the
Vice President for Finance overseeing the
student body budget, sat on the Multicultural
Advisory Committee which helped sponsor
diversity related events, worked as a student
ambassador to help recruit students from
disadvantaged backgrounds, and led numerous
student sponsored initiatives in efforts to
promote diversity and multiculturalism. This
fall he will continue his academic pursuits at
the University of California, Berkeley, where he
will begin a PhD program in Social Cultural
Studies in Education. Rak is of Cambodian
descent, has numerous relatives there whom he
has visited during several extended trips. He
is fluent in Khmer.
China
MONICA YOUNG:
Brown University, B.A. East Asian Studies,
magna cum laude; Brown University, Master of
Public Health degree candidate. At Brown, Monica
is a founding member of the Women in the World
organization and the Women's Launch Pad
mentoring program whose mission is to promote
discussion on issues of work/life balance among
generations of Brown women. During a semester
off from college Monica served as a volunteer
counselor for Camp Anytown of the National
Conference of Community and Justice, a
residential retreat for high school students
that focuses on issues of diversity and
tolerance. A California native and the daughter
of Chinese and Korean immigrant parents, Monica
spent a semester studying Chinese language,
Chinese culture & society, and traditional
Chinese medicine at Peking University in
Beijing. She has traveled extensively through
East and Southeast Asia, including China, Japan,
Burma, Thailand, and Tibet. Currently a master's
student in public health, Monica plans to enroll
in medical school this fall. She is fluent in
Mandarin.
HARRISON KAHN:
Middlebury College, B.A. cum laude,
Chinese Language and Literature. During college
Harry participated in Middlebury's intensive
Summer Language program and lived in Harbin,
China, studying with CET at the Harbin Institute
of Technology. Harry has spent a season
directing operations on a 200-passenger cruise
ship on the Yangtze River, started his own
Vermont maple sugaring operation with a friend,
and currently works year-round in the Putney
Student Travel Barn as an Associate Director
organizing Putney’s programs in China. Having
lived in Rhode Island, Vermont, Colorado, and
China, he has become accustomed to the finer
things in life - such as good Italian food,
powder skiing, trout fishing, maple syrup, and
spicy noodles. Additionally, Harry enjoys
photography and playing the guitar and
mandolin. His is fluent in Mandarin.
El Salvador
BRITT BASEL:
University of Colorado, B.A. with honors in
Anthropology. At Colorado, Britt focused on the
culture and history of Central and South
America, eventually leading her to travel, live,
and work extensively throughout the region. She
has returned several times and in several
capacities, from setting off with her backpack
and camera to explore everything from the
reaches of Chile to the heights the Machu
Picchu, to instructing scuba diving on the Osa
Peninsula in Costa Rica, and volunteering as a
translator for the Corcovado Foundation, a local
conservation organization. Of all of her
experiences in Latin America, the highlight was
the time she spent with the indigenous of
Paraguay; while with the Guarani, she studied
the extreme impact of deforestation, caused by
the production of genetically modified soy, on
their traditional medicines, food resources, and
health. Britt is certified as a Wilderness First
Responder and Emergency First Response
Instructor. Her photographs have appeared in
numerous galleries. She is fluent in Spanish.
MIKE FOOTE:
Dartmouth, B.S. Biology. While at Dartmouth,
Mike started up a small program serving youth
living in low-income housing communities. The
program, now called “DREAM,” has since grown
into a state-wide youth mentoring and adventure
organization (www.dreamprogram.org). Mike left
DREAM in 2005 to travel, including five months
in South America where he studied Spanish and
explored the continent from Patagonia to the
Amazon. More recently Mike consulted for and
hosted Ben and Jerry’s first social entrepreneur
training program, and then joined a political
campaign in Vermont as the state Field
Director. He is currently helping to establish
a nonprofit offshoot of an idea from the
campaign called “Service-Politics” (www.servicepolitics.org).
He also researches alternative educational
programs with the firm Char Associates. Mike’s
passion lies in innovative social-change and he
entertains himself daydreaming about ideas that
can help people (including himself) lead happier
and healthier lives. Mike is an avid juggler,
and traveler. He also loves to drive the DREAM
bus, which he converted to run on waste
vegetable oil so that he could feel better about
the 6 miles it gets per gallon. He will be
enrolling in a Masters program in Public
Administration this fall at the University of
Washington’s Evans School. Mike is fluent in
Spanish.
India
FRANCESCA NICOSIA:
DePauw University, B.A. Sociology &
Anthropology, Conflict Studies, cum laude.
Francesca first traveled to India, Nepal and
Tibet, with the School for International
Training's Tibetan Studies Semester and fell in
love with the Himalayan landscape, people and
cultures. After graduation, she spent a year as
the Assistant Curator at DePauw University's
Anthropology Museum where she researched and
designed an exhibit of sacred Tibetan art. Her
passion for traveling and experiential education
has also taken her on a human rights delegation
to Chiapas and Guererro, Mexico and on a human
rights fellowship with Humanity in Action in
Berlin, Germany. For the last four years, she
has lived in Boulder, Colorado, where she
currently works at the Center for People with
Disabilities, a non-profit that supports and
advocates for people with disabilities to live
independently. She is also a Certified Nurses
Aide, Certified Yoga Instructor, and specializes
in teaching chair yoga to people with limited
mobility. When she's not tinkling the ivories,
studying classical Indian singing, getting down
and dirty in her garden, or dancing like a fool,
you can find her on her bicycle, in the pool,
and out on the trail with her dog, Dorje. In the
fall she will begin an M.A. program in Medical
Anthropology at the University of Colorado at
Denver. Francesca is proficient in Hindi.
DREW SCHENCK:
Indiana University, B.S. Psychology &
Environmental Studies; University of Exeter
(England), J.Y.A. Drama. Drew worked for SECMOL,
the NGO that is the focus of the Global Action
India program, in Ladakh during its founding
years. With SECMOL he helped to build a school
and taught English. Drew also volunteered with
Tibetan refugees while in India, teaching at
local monasteries and schools. Drew pursued his
interest in environmental issues at the United
Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development
in Johannesburg where he promoted solar cooking
and heating. His taste for unusual
opportunities and interesting challenges has led
him to a variety of roles including, wilderness
trip leader, organic farmer, marine biologist,
ropes course facilitator, cave specialist, and
even DJ at a beach club. He has worked on every
continent except Antarctica. Currently, Drew
teaches outdoor education in the mountains of
California as he prepares for graduate school.
He enjoys music, poetry, dance, and anything
outside. Drew speaks basic Ladakhi.
Madagascar
ANDREA
CLYNE:
University of Michigan, B.A. French & B. S.
Environmental Policy & Behavior; University of
Michigan, M.A. Education. Andrea's love of
culture, languages and travel first led her to
Europe where she participated in a summer
exchange program in Switzerland during high
school. Inspired to master French, she spent a
semester studying in Montpellier, France and
exploring the surrounding countries. At the
University of Michigan Andrea majored in French
and Environmental issues, but her
extra-curricular activities included many
community service projects. After graduation
Andrea spent three years in Madagascar, working
as an environmental education volunteer through
the Peace Corps. Her many projects included
youth camps, weekly radio programs, beekeeping
and animal husbandry, sports and English
instruction, improved-stove construction, and
improved farming techniques. Andrea enjoys
reading, writing, running, biking, volleyball,
ultimate Frisbee, hiking, and skiing. She is
currently teaching French at Annapolis High
School and training for a marathon. This will
be Andrea’s second summer with Putney. She led
this same program in Madagascar in 2006. Andrea
is fluent in Malagasy.
PANNHA SANN:
Hope College, B.A. Majors in Science Education
and Elementary Education; Minors in Mathematics
Education and French. Pannha immigrated to the
United States in 1988 from Cambodia and lived in
Montreal during the summers. His fascination
with languages, culture, and learning led him to
explore Spanish, French, and German as well as
his native Khmer.
During college he traveled to
Madagascar to study ecology and conservation for
a semester. There he had the opportunity to
work with internationally recognized scientists
as well as organizations including the World
Wildlife Fund, Tandroy Conservation Trust, and
the University of Toliar. He had extended
homestays with two families whose heads of
household were chiefs in their respective
villages. Currently Pannha teaches in the
Chicago Public School system. He enjoys soccer,
volleyball, snowboarding, biking, swimming,
kayaking, climbing, hiking, camping, traveling,
and eating. Pannha is proficient in French and
Malagasy.
Malawi
HOPE
THORNTON:
Saint Lawrence University, B.A. Anthropology;
School for International Training, M.A.
Candidate, Intercultural Service, Leadership and
Management. During her junior year, Hope
studied abroad in Kenya where she lived with a
farming community in Kisii, herded goats and
cattle with the Samburu, and studied trade beads
of the Spice Route in Mombasa. At Saint
Lawrence, Hope was an Outdoor Program Guide,
leading and organizing trips in the Adirondack
Mountains. She is currently finishing her
coursework for a Masters Degree combining the
areas of Sustainable Development and
International Education. She has recently
finished the Practicum phase working on a
permaculture demonstration plot outside of
Lilongwe, Malawi, where she has been living for
the past year. Hope loves running, reading, and
is passionate about all forms of snow sports
which she finds difficult to pursue in Africa.
This will be Hope's fifth summer with Putney
Student Travel. She has led Community Service
programs in Tanzania for four summers. She is
proficient in both Kiswahili and Chichewa.
DAVID SMITH: California
State University, Monterey Bay, summa cum
laude, Earth Systems Science and Policy.
Having just completed two years of Peace Corps
service, David brings his recent experience in
Malawi to Putney’s Global Action program. In
Malawi, he was posted at Majete Game Reserve
where he worked with various conservation
organizations to encourage the sustainable
utilization of natural resources. His projects
included the development of income generating
activities, improving agricultural techniques to
reduce hunger, and community sensitization to
encourage wildlife protection. David also
worked with community organizations and NGO’s to
reach out and educate community members on how
to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. David has
traveled extensively throughout Malawi and is
proficient in Chichewa, the national language.
South Africa
NATASHA
HIMMELMAN:
Dartmouth College, B.A. English, Honors,
University of Cape Town, M. Phil, African
Studies, Distinction, University of Cape Town,
Ph.D. Candidate,
African Studies. Natasha has lived in Cape Town
for several years as a postgraduate student
based at UCT's Centre for African Studies.
Prior to her studies in South Africa, Natasha
taught at a preparatory high school in St.
Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Her interest in
Africa was ignited while studying African
Literature at the University of the West Indies
in Trinidad. A Dartmouth Tuck Fellowship
enabled her to visit the continent, volunteering
at Botswana's Princess Marina Hospital.
Natasha's interest in issues and perceptions of
health on the continent are reflected in her
work, which questions the process of knowledge
production, particularly the ways in which
medical "facts" are created. While not working
on her thesis, Natasha enjoys tennis, salsa
dancing, and reggaeton music.
JON POTTER:
Dartmouth College, B.A., cum laude,
Economics & Applied Mathematics. At Dartmouth,
Jon was an active participant in the community,
playing on the rugby team, leading a
weatherization service group, serving as an
Undergraduate Advisor, organizing several events
around gender issues, and serving as Sophomore
Class President. Jon also used his time in
college to travel, working on a kiwi fruit
orchard in New Zealand and spending time in Cape
Town, South Africa, where he helped a youth
group based in the nearby townships to add an
environmental component to its programming. In
his junior year at Dartmouth, he joined a
newly-formed mentoring program called DREAM that
worked with children living in a local Section 8
housing development. Upon graduation, Jon and a
classmate founded The DREAM Program, Inc. and
replicated DREAM's program model on college
campuses around Vermont. Jon served as its
founding Executive Director for four years
before transitioning the organization to new
leadership. Since leaving DREAM, Jon has been
working as a carpenter in Franconia, New
Hampshire as part of a small team that is
designing and building two homes. This summer,
in addition to leading Global Action South
Africa, he will be working with an MIT professor
to assess working conditions in textile
factories in Vietnam and India. Beginning this
fall, Jon will attend the MIT Sloan School of
Management as an MBA candidate.
Language Learning
Argentina Language Learning
AMBER MOYLE:
Washington University in St. Louis, B.A.,
Spanish with Minors in Chinese and Cultural
Anthropology. Attending a boarding school where
students came from all over the world, Amber
became fascinated with languages and traveling
at a young age. She has lived, studied and
worked in Europe, Central America and Asia and
has traveled to South America and Turkey. Her
passion for languages led her to teach Spanish
at the 5th grade and high school levels in
several northern California schools. She has
worked in the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey,
Mexico and held several internships in Germany
over a year as part of a program sponsored by
the U.S. Congress and the German Bundestag.
Most recently, she has organized trips for
Geographic Expeditions in Asia, Middle East,
Eastern Europe and North Africa. Her hobbies
include learning languages, hiking, biking, rock
climbing, and attending cultural events. This
will be Amber’s third summer with Putney Student
Travel. She led Language Learning programs in
Spain in 2002 and 2004. Amber is fluent in
Spanish.
NATHANIEL MARCUS:
Middlebury College, B.A. Political Science. Nate
spent his summers in high school in Spain
traveling, taking classes, and working. While
at Middlebury, Nate served as an intern teaching
English in Costa Rica. He spent three months in
a small Costa Rican community working in a
school, living with a host family, and building
a community center. Nate studied abroad with
Antioch College's Buddhist Studies Program in
Japan, where he lived in several monasteries and
meditated with Buddhist monks. For three summers
Nate has taught Spanish at Concordia Language
Villages in Minnesota and at the Marianapolis
Preparatory School in Thompson, Connecticut last
year where he was a dorm parent. Now he leads
semester trips with LEAPNow to Guatemala,
Honduras and Costa Rica. His interests include,
foreign travel, and meditation. This will be
Nate’s third summer with Putney. He has led two
Language Learning programs to Spain. He is
fluent in Spanish.
Costa Rica Language
Learning – Group A
LEAH DURÁN:
Brown University, B.A., Latin American Studies
with Honors. Leah began her travels during her
junior year of high school, when she left her
home state of New Hampshire for a year in
Zaragoza, Spain. During college she was pleased
to be able to keep up her Spanish as a medical
interpreter for Rhode Island Hospital, and for a
free walk-in legal clinic. At Brown, she led
backpacking trips in the White Mountains,
learned Ghanaian drumming, and began to practice
yoga. When wanderlust struck again, she headed
to Puebla, Mexico to visit family, hike
volcanoes, and study Mexican politics. She
became interested in education as a profession
after two summers teaching 6th graders Spanish,
English and Outdoor Education for Summerbridge.
After graduating from Brown, Leah moved to
Austin, Texas, where she currently teaches 2nd
grade in a bilingual classroom. She can most
likely be found swimming, biking Austin’s
greenbelt, or at the rock-climbing gym. Leah is
fluent in Spanish.
PATRICK MOTT:
Middlebury College, B.A., magna cum laude,
History. While at Middlebury, Patrick was a
member of the Finance Committee, a starting lock
on the 2007 National Champion Middlebury College
Rugby Club, and a student supervisor at
Middlebury’s Student Center. During his junior
year, Patrick studied for a semester in Spain at
the C.V. Starr Middlebury School in Madrid
before teaching English in a small town in
Guanacaste, Costa Rica for the month of
January. Patrick wrote his senior history
thesis on the Costa Rican National Campaign of
1856-1857 and its role in Costa Rican national
identity for which he was awarded a Senior Work
Fellowship to return to Costa Rica to perform
research in the San José area. Patrick will be
attending law school in the fall. He is an avid
fan of the Detroit Lions, Tigers, Pistons, and
Red Wings. Patrick is fluent in Spanish.
Costa Rica Language
Learning – Group B
SEARCY MILAM:
Rice University, B.A. English &
Hispanic Studies. Searcy's obsession with
Spanish began in the tenth grade when she was
fortunate enough to have a wonderful teacher
from Costa Rica (with whom she is still in
touch). She spent eight months living in Spain
during college, moving from Valencia to
Santander to Salamanca. She studied at La
Universidad de Salamanca, Spain's oldest
university, and tutored elementary students in
English. Searcy has also traveled in Europe,
Turkey, and Mexico. During her senior year, she
served as Editor-in-chief of Rice's
undergraduate literary journal and completed a
thesis in both of her majors. Originally from
Mississippi, she now lives in East Los Angeles
where she works through Teach for America as a
middle school teacher of English as a Second
Language. She enjoys yoga, singing, reading,
eating good food, listening to good music, and
exploring new places. Searcy is fluent in
Spanish.
CHRIS COSDEN:
Harvard College, B.A. with
honors, Comparative Religion & Sociology. A
Northern California native, Chris has received
scholarships to study and live in San Sebastian,
Spain; Wakayama, Japan; and Havana, Cuba.
Following graduation, Chris worked for a
non-profit specializing in domestic microfinance
and taught economic literacy classes. More
recently he taught high school math and led
language study programs in Spain. Chris' own
travels have brought him overland throughout
Central and South America, Western and Eastern
Europe, as well as parts of Asia. Despite his
love for exploring new areas, his favorite place
in the world remains Section 224 of the Oakland
Coliseum during an Oakland Athletics baseball
game. Chris is a trained emergency medical
technician and is fluent in Spanish.
France Language
Learning - Group A
KAREN PHILLIPS:
Saint Lawrence University,
B.A. cum laude, French. Between high
school and college, Karen spent a year as an AFS
exchange student, living with a host family,
attending school, and traveling in Switzerland.
While at Saint Lawrence, Karen studied abroad in
France and Senegal, focusing her studies on
francophone literature and culture. During
college she worked as a writing mentor, a
teaching assistant, and a French tutor for
beginner and intermediate French classes, ran
track, and was an active member of the
Laurentian Singers and the Swinging Saints (a
student run swing dancing club). In addition to
speaking French, traveling, and teaching, Karen
loves running, skiing, rock climbing, and
painting. Karen is fluent in French.
MATTHEW McLEOD:
Rice University, B.A.
Political Science and French Language and
Literature. While at Rice University, Matt
concentrated his studies on electoral system
construction in developing countries. He spent
part of his junior year at the Université de
Nantes, France, while living with a host
family. He was the recipient of the John E.
Parish International Research Fellowship, which
allowed him to travel throughout France to study
racism and xenophobia through various lenses of
French and foreign cultures. At Rice, Matt was a
founding member of Club Chouette, a Houston/Rice
French club, is vice president of the Rice
Karate Club, and enjoys playing tennis and
soccer. He has also worked extensively with
at-risk and underprivileged youth in Houston,
Mexico, and Montana. Matt is fluent in French.
France Language Learning - Group B
for 8th and 9th Graders
MICAH KING:
Washington University in St. Louis, B.A., cum
laude, Anthropology and International & Area
Studies. Micah first came to love France through
spending a summer in a château nestled in the
Loire Valley, and considers Western Europe and
Central Africa among his favorite places in the
world. He spent two semesters during college in
Cameroon, an African nation where French is an
official language. At Washington University in
St. Louis, Micah was president of that school’s
chapter of Sigma Iota Rho, the international
studies honorary society. As a senior, he was a
Teaching Assistant and Residential Advisor, and
helped petition the university administration to
encourage more faculty diversity. Micah enjoys
independent film, community radio, hiking, and
collecting fossils around his hometown in the
Ozark Mountains. Micah is fluent in French.
REBECCA RAMSEY:
Hamilton College, B.A.
Creative Writing & French. While at Hamilton,
Rebecca focused her studies on literature and
writing, receiving the Douw Henry Fonda
scholarship for excellence in writing. She
wrote for the college newspaper and was also
involved in theater as an assistant stage
manager. An active member of the Fencing club,
she became its captain as a senior. She spent
the spring of her junior year abroad in Paris
with the Middlebury College program, staying in
Europe the summer after to travel for a month.
After returning to Hamilton, Rebecca became
involved in the French department as a Teaching
Assistant and with alumni relations for
Hamilton’s program in Paris. As her senior
honors project in Creative Writing, she wrote a
novella over the past year called Love in
Translation about an American widow living
in Paris. Her senior thesis in French focused
on twelfth century poetess Marie de France and
the influences of Ovid on her Lais.
Rebecca is fluent in French.
France Language
Learning - Group C
LISA
PETZOLD:
Georgetown University, B.S. International
Politics and Law. Institut d'etudes politiques
de Paris, M.A., International Affairs. The
international bug bit Lisa in high school, when
she studied abroad in Rennes, France as a junior
and began her French adventures. Excited by her
first foray abroad, Lisa chose to study at the
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at
Georgetown University. As a junior, Lisa
attended the Institut d'etudes politiques de
Paris (Sciences Po), and fell in love with
Paris. Sciences Po, offered her a spot in their
master's program in conflict resolution and
security. During her time in Washington and
Paris, Lisa benefited from the opportunities
these great cities offered her, interning and
working at the Embassy of France and the
Alliance Francaise, and taking advantage of
cultural offerings including theaters, museums,
and parks. Lisa also used the years living in
Paris to travel throughout France, spending time
in the Loire, Vendee, Basque country, the Cote
d'azur, Brittany, and central France. Lisa has
spent the past year as a French instructor at a
New England private high school, where she
teaches various levels of French, advises the
French club, coaches girls juni |