Renewal Grants

My Renewal Grant adventure this summer of 2024 had many magical chapters that will enrich my life and work at Burke’s school for years to come! It is with great pleasure that I share these experiences here in this professional reflection. 

The Trip’s Beginning: Mt Shasta

My husband Joro and I set out on our roadtrip adventure on July 8th. Traveling by truck with a shell, we did not hold back in bringing everything we needed! I know there are some light travelers out there, but I was not one of them. I brought enough clothes to not do laundry for two weeks!

Our first destination was Mt. Shasta. We filled up our water bottles at the head of the Sacramento river with the drinkable melted waters of the mountain. We swam in the beautiful, clear waters of Castle Lake. We participated in a sound bath healing. We raided thrift…

This summer I received a Renewal Grant to Argentina. The experience was phenomenal and I was impressed with the chaos and the beauty of its principal city, Buenos Aires. I chose Argentina because one of the novels I teach in the 8th grade is set in Buenos Aires. In the novel, the city stands as one of the central characters with equal importance with the human protagonists/antagonists. When I visit a new country/city, I like to explore and discover the cultural heartbeat of the place. I learned that Argentina takes its soccer, music/dance, and politics very seriously. Images of Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi (soccer), Pope Francis, and Eva Perón dominate the Buenos Aires landscape. Another omnipresent feature is the tango. One evening, I ventured out to a milonga, one of the many dance halls that exist in Buenos Aires where one can stop, meet friends, and dance the tango and…