Superstar Sam

Originally from the amazing city of New York, Superstar Sam went south for college to Georgetown University, the premier postsecondary institution in our nation’s capital (word). She is a junior majoring in History and minoring in Art History and she dances hip-hop and jazz in her free time. If her impeccable sense of taste and affluence isn’t already apparent, Sam also manages to find time to appreciate the world’s finest art of the many museums in the District of Columbia.

Sam inspiration to volunteer with LE in Egypt came from her semester at sea experience during which she stopped in Egypt. She is excited both to teach and to learn; she loves new cultures and is thrilled to experience Egypt’s.

After school, she plans to live abroad. However, she doesn’t know what she wants to be when she grows up. For now, if she had to be a kitchen appliance, she’d be one of those sunshine yellow KitchenAid Mixers. She tells me that if she could touch anyone or anything in the entire universe, it would be the moon. I know, stellar, right? Okay, fine, lunar. Much like her free going personality, Sam’s patronus would take the form of a beautiful butterfly. I truly look forward to meeting Sam in person—I can tell she has one of those addicting personalities that the students will devour!

Daniel Scott Smith

First off the bat, it must be stated that Daniel Scott Smith, commonly referred to as DSS, spent 9 weeks in Thailand last summer, 4 for which he lived as a Buddhist monk. Now that’s pretty damn cool. Currrently, DSS is a freshman as Stanford University, and he is from Tampa, FL. He is loving life at Stanford, and he is absorbing as much as he can from being at such a ‘bastion of liberal thought’. DSS is debating between being an English Lit major, or an Art History major, personally I believe he should go for the latter.

Looking towards the future, DSS has aspirations to perhaps become a high school English teacher; such a profession would give him the opportunity to impare his own experiences from his youth, and provides future generations with real life lessons for success. LE is going to give DSS the perfect opportunity to ‘whet his palette’, in the domain of teaching. He has never been to Egypt, nor does he know any Arabic, but he is looking forward to spending a considerable period of time in an Islamic country. He is excited to be able to live life comparable to that of an Egyptian, and to learn firsthand about the Islamic Egyptian culture.

DSS is a really cool dude, who has awesome plans to help the future of our world. Directly following college, he is not entirely sure where he wants to be, but he is confident that he wants to spend time living abroad. Perhaps he may spend time in the Peace Corps, or with Amnesty International, which is his favorite international non-profit organization. Wherever the future may take him, his experience with LE Egypt will be an incredible marker for his international service career.

Jake Tower Bio

Jake Tower is a New Englander through and through. Raised in Massachusetts, he now lives in Connecticut and studies at Brown University. There, he's a freshman currently studying neuroscience. His major, however, is subject to change. His many interests might eventually lead him from the realm of the nervous system into biology, literature, or anthropology. He also enjoys the study of languages and is now learning Arabic (however, he chose the language before he had any inkling of adventures in Egypt this summer). Jake also participates in the sailing team at Brown, as sailing is one of his favorite activities. To top off the well rounded individual he seems to be, he also enjoys reading, writing, and traveling. His friendly and go-with-the-flow personality seems exactly the type an LE Egypt volunteer should possess.

Jake's best friend attends GW, although, I haven't had the chance to meet him, and he has a friend who understands my hybrid mid-western/mildly southern accent (She's also from Pittsburgh. I just had to throw that in.)

As for his expectations of our time in Egypt, Jake is hoping that the volunteers will have time to interact and hang out. He's looking forward to traveling around the country during our time volunteering and possibly afterwards. Also, I'm sure he's looking forward to exercising his new Arabic skills and learning more about the Egyptian dialect.

post by: Julie B.

Julie Bailey Bio

Julie Bailey hails from outside of Pittsburgh, PA, complete with the trademark Pittsburghese “accent,” which does, in fact, sound a little Midwestern for those who are trying to place it. She is now a freshman at George Washington University majoring in International Affairs and deciding on whether to pursue a concentration in International Economics or in International Development. Either way it seems that her interests lie in the global community. At GW Julie works in her honors program work-study and is a member of a professional sorority focusing in Foreign Service. She also dabbles in the oboe which she plays in the university band and has been learning Russian for several years - a skill that is sure to come in handy in the Russian neighborhoods of Egypt for navigating the streets of Little Moscow and the like.

Julie loves to read, write, and travel and this trip to Egypt will be her first ever time outside of the country. She is looking forward to heading to Egypt this summer and sharing some culture with her students as well as experiencing their’s. Her delightful and optimistic attitude will be an asset in her adventures and after a summer of volunteering as a teacher in Egypt, there are sure to be many Egyptian students of English with preferences for “pop” over soda.

Christine DiPietro Bio

Christine is a charming young lady from a suburb outside of Winston-Salem, North Carolina - the home of both Winston and Camel cigarettes.

She's currently at North Carolina State Univeristy studying Political Science with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies although she doesn't intend to stay on longer than 4 years at her Uni.
After she graduates she doesn't know exactly what she will do - other than to teach English for a few years somewhere in the Middle East... And maybe work in an embassy over there... And then return to the US to work for the State Deperment... (pretty good plan if you ask me)

Having already lived in South Africa, Christine decided to go with Learning Enterprises, partly as she shares LE's ideal for putting creativity in the classroom but also as she wants to immerse herself in the culture of Egypt. Not only that but she's also been studying a little bit of Modern Standard Arabic leaving her ideally placed to get the most out of a summer in Egypt!

Some of her best friends drive pick up trucks. She says y'all and drinks sweet tea. And yet she still won't tell me who killed JFK... *sigh*

Steve Titchener Bio

Steve Titchener lives in the small town of Seaford, which is about 10 miles outside of Brighton and next to the port of Newhaven in the UK. There he attends Brighton University where he studies education, however; he also lived and worked for a year and a half in China and speaks Mandarin. After he graduates next year, Steve plans on escaping to the West Country and teaching science – or else improving his language skills and doing translation work for the government.

While Steve loves traveling in Europe and really digs countries like Turkey and Greece, he is trying to see the world outside of the EU. During his time in China, Steve familiarized himself with the Chinese people and their culture (and some really nice rice wine). He looks forward not only to working with the Egyptians, but the Americans alike.

However, don’t get too excited. While he drinks tea by the bucket, Steve is more likely to bring up the weather than to recite Shakespeare (but is willing to learn some if requested).

Questions?

Please make comments to this post with any lingering questions you might have about preparing for and teaching this summer in Egypt. I have made my own comments with answers to frequently asked questions already. Thanks! -aminah

Summer 2008 is on the horizon...

And preparations for LE Egypt second year as a Pilot Program are finally solidifying into what looks to be a promising summer! This year's team of 6 will serve in Alexandria, Cairo and Minya. For the next couple of months, this blog will be used as an opportunity to share information about the pilot program this summer. After arrival, it will be a space for volunteer's to share and preserve their experience for their friends, family, and the LE community.

peace,
aminah!
LE Egypt Pilot Program Director