Hello everyone!

Hope everyone has had a good summer vacation so far.  My name is Scott Underriner – but most of my students call me Mr. U.  I teach 11th and 12th-grade physics at School of the Future, a relatively small high school in the Gramercy Park area.  I live in Brooklyn and am originally from the suburbs of Washington, DC.  I just finished my 2nd year of teaching, and am looking forward to my 3rd, where I’ll be getting to teach an elective class on astrophysics for my senior class.  I’m a big fan of all things nerdy – I even run a “Games Club” at my school, where we play cards, board games, and whatever I’ve just gotten for my Switch!  The reason I became a global glimpse leader is because I know the value of the kind of experience Global Glimpse offers students.  I went on a service trip after my own junior year in high school, similar to the one we’ll be going on together, and I also spent a few years of my childhood living abroad in Bangkok, Thailand, and Pretoria, South Africa.  The experience of getting to travel abroad and view life from a different perspective/culture is a very powerful and educational experience, and I’m excited to be a part of it with all of you!  There’s a lot of stuff on the trip I’m looking forward to, from trying new foods, to practicing my Spanish, and getting a chance to travel to a place I’ve never been before.  I’m pretty excited!

I’m going to be emailing blog post information out to you all shortly so that you’re able to comment on the blog and communicate with each other.  If you want to make an introductory post of yourself, feel free!  Please remember that the blog posts should only be made by STUDENTS, and not friends or family.  Please don’t share the login info with anyone also.  And remember, family and friends will be checking in to read the blog, so make sure to keep that in mind when posting.

Us GGLs are also going to be making phone calls to everybody over the next couple days, to introduce ourselves and make sure everyone knows ground rules, what to expect, what to pack (passport for sure!), etc, etc.  I’ll make sure to include my phone number in the email I send out, so people know what number to look out for.

Finally, a quick update on my summer so far and a picture of me so you all know who to look for at the airport (July 30!):

I just got engaged!  Woo hoo!  See you all in two weeks!

Mr. U