Hey Glimpsers!

I am SO excited for our trip to San Juan in the Dominican Republic for so many reasons, and I’m really looking forward to being one of the people to lead you through what’s sure to be a life-changing experience.

I grew up in the Bay (Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco), left 14 years ago to go to college and just moved back about two years ago to Oakland. My mom is from France and my dad is from LA and also speaks French, so I grew up speaking both English and French. (For those of you who take French and want to practice on our trip, I’d be more than happy to!)

I was a high school ESL/English/Reading&Writing teacher for six years in France, Cameroon, then New York, and have been working for the past two years at a middle school in Oakland teaching reading and coaching teachers. I’ve taught 6th graders all the way to 12th graders. I feel really fortunate to have learned from the young people I’ve taught over the past eight years, and look forward to learning from you on our trip! Young people like yourselves have so much wisdom and it is truly a pleasure to get to engage.

I’ve traveled a lot and with a critical eye, grappling with the themes that you have and/or will be grappling with on our trip. I truly look forward to hearing your insights and seeing how your perspectives change through this experiential travel opportunity. I look forward to witnessing the bonds that you will create with one another as you learn and challenge each other through this experience.

I traveled to the DR on a social justice trip for teachers in 2009 and had a lot of Dominican-American and Dominican students in New York, and so am looking forward to sharing what I know about various issues in the DR.

This will be my first time as a trip leader with Global Glimpse. I have led high school students on other trips in Latin America (Nicaragua and Costa Rica), and it has been a life changing experience for both students and myself each time. I was attracted to Global Glimpse because of the fact that they bring students from different backgrounds to have this experience together and learn from one another in that way too. I also think it is a unique program in that it challenges your thinking about aid and development, something I learned and thought a lot about when I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Cameroon, West Africa.

In my free time I do a lot of hiking and exploring in nature, spending quality time with friends and family, bike riding, playing music with others, and reading. I am passionate about social justice and believe that connecting with others enriches our lives immensely. We have so much to learn about others and ourselves, and can learn so much from conversing and interacting with people who have had different experiences than us; I am actually going back to school in the fall to get my PhD to study and participate in creating programs that facilitate this kind of connection, bridge-building, and dialogue amongst young people!

Anyhoo, I’m super looking forward to getting to know you, to learning from you, to guiding and leading you through this incredible experience! My co-Global Glimpse Leader Taylor and I will be reaching out soon to each of you individually so that we can touch base with you, start to get to know you, and answer any questions you may have about our soon upcoming trip!

Until then, enjoy what’s left of the school year, and congrats on making it to summer!  ~Daniele