When students are asked about their favorite thing at school, the classic reply is recess and lunch. I completely understanding their thinking….getting out to play with your fellow classmates and talking together about anything in the world while you eat took top ranking for me too!

I loved the speakers that were selected for us.  I’d been looking forward to meeting and hearing from Vance Kite and I wasn’t disappointed.  And learning about the experience of “flipping” in the classroom fueled my fire to begin the work of creating lessons with a group of teachers next year with our Wake Ed Partnership Teacher Leadership Grant money. But spending time touring the beautiful forest and river and eating and drinking sweet tea to my hearts delight are my number 2 and number 3 on my most memorable list.

Because of the rich and thoughtful conversations at dinner time, Julie agreed to take Kathy and I along for the ride to Walmart to pick out a couple of mementos for her children.  The trip turned into an hour of laughing, laughing, and just having fun discovering our uniqueness’s and the many similarities that we all had. The chance meeting of 3 teachers from different parts of the state, all teaching different subjects, lead to friendships that I know will last because they left me feeling like I want to invest more in our new relationship.  I’m really looking forward to seeing them in July.

Lastly, it wasn’t recess and it wasn’t lunch that took the top billing of my trip.  It was my ride home with Erin Lawrence.  What an amazing young educator!  We are both in Wake County so I will make it my business to stay in touch with her, pray with her and for her future, and be invested in her success.  I’m in awe of her attitude, talent, and outlook about education and want to be a part of her future success story because I know it will be an amazing one!  Thank you for the ride home Erin but mostly, thank you for being the extraordinary young educator that you are and beautiful young woman that I know will inspire other girls to become scientists!

What do you hope to gain from this Kenan Fellows Program experience?

What I had hoped to gain from being in the Kenan Fellows program has already been surpassed. I knew being a Kenan Fellow would open up doors of opportunity to spread the message of global awareness and financial literacy to elementary students and teachers. But what I didn’t expect is what happened in a one week period of time with NCCEE and one meeting with my mentors at Duke.

NCCEE has invited me to the national conference of CEE in Baltimore as well as is going to arrange to have me present at Marbles Museum in December.  I also met the most amazing elementary teacher who has published a book with specifics that all my teachers will love….How to teach economics using children’s literature!!  I’ve already ordered 22 books from Amazon to share with teachers when I present and partner with teachers at my school.

My mentors at Duke have agreed to open up the world of Duke to me when I arrive on July 17th as well as agreed to speak with me wherever I present.  Lukas and Michael are amazing researchers with a powerful portfolio of work and yet present themselves in a very down to earth, have fun working on whatever you want, attitude.

Now, I’m at NCCAT and have been blessed with so many cool tools to integrate technology into lessons AND have met the most incredible individuals in my co-hort group. I’m blown away by all the talent in the room and feel truly blessed to have sat one to one with them in discussions about education and have made incredible connections with educators who are far ahead of me in flipping classroom lessons and are happy and more than willing to share their expertise.

So, what did I expect I would gain….it turns out…I got more than I’ve expected already.  Now I’m expecting the wonderfully unexpected as I enter into day 3 at NCCAT and continue my externship next week.

How do you rate experiences…with ah ha moments…connections with incredible people….or the amazing possibilities you anticipate as you continue your journey?

I’m within two short weeks of officially beginning my fellowship!  I can’t wait!  My passion for teaching students in elementary school about financial literacy and global awareness will get my full attention this summer as a Kenan Fellow!

Lukas Brun has agreed to be one of my mentors.  I am meeting with him this Friday.  Look at his amazing bio!

LUKAS BRUN

Lukas Brun’s research at CGGC uses global value chain analysis to understand corporate and regional competitiveness. Recent projects led by Lukas analyzed the global value chains of shipbuilding, underwater marine vehicles (ROV/AUV), and underwater sensors. He has published in peer-reviewed academic journals and industry trade journals. Articles by Lukas appear in the Economic Development Quarterly, the Maritime Reporter and Engineering News, and the Marine Technology Reporter, among others. Prior to joining CGGC, he was a senior research associate at the UNC Center for Competitive Economies working on state and local area economic development projects, and as an economist for a Los Angeles-based economic consulting firm. Lukas holds master’s degrees with concentrations in economic development and international political economy from UNC-Chapel Hill, and bachelor’s degrees in economics and political science from Texas Christian University. He lives in Chapel Hill with his wife, Erin, and daughter, Audrey.

Here  is the Center’s website link:

http://www.cggc.duke.edu/index.php