Hello Glimpsers!

My name is Julian Hartmann-Russell and I will be one of the two GGLs traveling on the ground with you in Constanza, DR from June 12-26. This trip is coming up so soon! I am an independent trip leader and I live in Massachusetts, so I have not had the chance to meet any of you yet. I’d like to share some information with you all about who I am and why I am passionate about Global Glimpse.

First of all, I love travel, languages, music, and landscapes. I became interested in languages when I was around 11 years old and I met a French boy by coincidence, who was staying in my neighborhood in a small city in Western Massachusetts. We couldn’t understand what the other person was saying but we found ways to communicate and became quick friends. We began an exchange where every summer he would come to my house for 3-4 weeks to stay with my family and learn English, and every summer I would spend 3-4 weeks with his family immersed in French. He is still my best friend and I just became the padrino/parrain/godfather of his baby girl!

I am a teacher at a social justice-focused charter school in Holyoke, MA. I taught Spanish and French there for 2 years, and then decided that I wanted to teach outside of the classroom. I developed an outdoor education course and another course called Food Justice and Gardening. In this class my students learn about our industrial food system here in the U.S. and where food comes from. We do work to improve access to fresh food in our community, and started and maintain a school garden at our school. In my spare time, I work with an urban agriculture nonprofit organization that focuses on training youth leaders, providing fresh produce to our urban community, and growing Latino cultural crops. AND I just finished a masters degree in Geography (I love maps)!

I’ve had the great fortune to lead both high school and university educational programs to locations including Puerto Rico, Hawaii (Big Island), Quebec, and the Dominican Republic. I believe that travel opens our minds and offers a powerful experiential learning experience. I have been very excited to work with Global Glimpse for some time – I think they run amazing programs with inspiring students and I can’t wait to learn more about our global community through the program in the DR that they have designed. Although I have traveled a lot, I still have so much to learn and am consistently humbled by my experiences getting to know people and places around the globe. I can’t wait to share this experience with you all! I’m obsessed with tropical fruit, and I’m looking forward to tasting delicious new tropical fruits, designing an awesome Community Action Project, and getting to know all of you!

I will see you all at the Copa International ticketing desk at the International Terminal of SFO airport at 10:30pm on Sunday June 11th! Zully, your other GGL, and I will get in touch over the phone with each of you in the near future to check in 🙂

Saludos,

Julian