Hello everyone!
My name is Don Gilbert and I will be your Global Glimpse Co-leader for our trip this summer to Estelí Nicaragua. I am currently a fifth grade teacher in Richmond Ca. I am bilingual and bi-literate. I speak, read, and write in both English and Spanish. I also recently began teaching myself Russian! I love languages and how they allow you to get to know someone in a deeper way. In my free time, when I’m not memorizing the Cyrillic alphabet, you can usually find me doing CrossFit or reading anything by Zadie Smith (On Beauty is the greatest novel of the 21st Century). I live in downtown Oakland, but I spend most of my time in San Francisco. I grew up in Riverside California and attended the University of California, Davis where I studied English Literature. I studied abroad in Madrid Spain and the experience changed my life. Since studying abroad I have found every reason possible to spend time abroad. I even have a personal goal of spending half my twenties abroad. For now I have put down roots in the equally diverse Bay Area. After returning to the states for graduation I joined Teach for America in Richmond and I have been teaching in the Bay Area ever since.
I became a GGL after a friend from college reached out to me about building on my experiences as an urban educator and world traveler. Both experiences have shown me first-hand how important it is for students to have global experiences and navigate a world outside of the United States, California, and the Bay Area.
I am looking forward to making this trip an experience of a lifetime for you all. I hope that traveling abroad at a young age changes each of you in the same way that it changed me. Be ready to welcome many restless nights spent trying to answer the question—where next? The feeling of wanderlust is a real thing; and once it latches onto you you won’t want to let it go. I can’t wait to meet you all in the near future. Enjoy the rest of the school year and look for those passports!
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