Andrew Wetmore
Chicago, Illinois
Health/Physical Education & Leadership Course Teacher
Pritzker College Prep
Trips as a Global Glimpse Leader:
2017: Dominican Republic
2019: Panama
2021: Costa Rica
What drove you to become an educator?
It’s funny how life never works out according to plan! When I was in high school, I was debating what I wanted to do with no clue where I was going to go from there. But I loved the idea of coaching and I’ve loved baseball since I was five years old. So wanting to stay involved in baseball somehow knowing that I probably wasn’t going to be playing after high school, I knew that there was an opportunity to maybe coach. Getting into coaching was my first drive toward teaching, and I knew that if I was teaching, I’d be able to start coaching as soon as the school day ends. So that’s where it started but it’s blossomed well beyond that – I really love showing up day to day and being able to provide guidance, instruction, and knowledge for kids and really just watch them grow into the successful young adults they become, over the four years I spend with them.
What’s something you learned during your Global Glimpse trip that you can take back to the classroom?
As a GGL on a Global Glimpse trip, being in an environment where I was a minority allowed me to gain a lot of perspectives that have helped me recognize my own biases and become more deliberate in my attempt to be empathetic and become more vocal in terms of modeling what empathy, perspective and patience looks like so that the students could pick up on it as well. I think I am much more cognizant now of how I act, react, and be proactive in some of these spaces because of what I’ve learned from Global Glimpse. In the context of the leadership course that I teach, I think about “where can I bring a space to allow kids to be vulnerable”? , so they can feel safe and supported.
In my leadership course, we touch on the power of vulnerability and that without it- being able to truly express our emotions- we’re not able to feel some of those other emotions as powerfully as they can be and should be. If we aren’t comfortable expressing our sadness, how are we going to express love and compassion to the fullest extent? That’s something I learned being a GGL and working with students in different countries, and it’s something I’ve tried to impart to my students so that they can have the agency to become strong leaders in high school, and hopefully take it out into the world afterward as well.
Why is travel important to you?
Travel opens your eyes to different cultures, and different perspectives, allows you to take risks, and it empowers you to continue on. There are a lot of things I’ve accomplished because of the travel that I’ve done with Global Glimpse, and even before that getting on a plane for the first time as a junior in college to Chicago for an internship. That trip showed me Chicago, where I now live. Without that trip, I would have never moved to Chicago and would have never experienced Global Glimpse. Without Global Glimpse, I would have never been able to build a partnership with the Chicago Cubs that immensely helped our baseball and softball programs at Pritzker to do some great things for this community. So in a lot of ways, travel has been the catalyst for many of the good things that have come my way, and it’s because of those qualities- taking risks, feeling empowered, learning new perspectives, getting an understanding of the diversity that’s out there, and recognizing that your way of life isn’t the only way of life, and that’s okay – should be celebrated.
