"Connecting Our Vermont Communities" Conference at Lyndon State College

Global Campuses Newport, St. Johnsbury and Hardwick presented a dynamic conference at Lyndon State College on April 4th celebrating the interconnectedness of all our Global Campuses and our communities. We wrote a grant in the fall to the Vermont Community Foundation and were awarded the Green Mountain Fund to connect with the other Global Campuses.

"I was the welcome speaker with Steve and Michelle from GC St. Johnsbury. I liked all the classes and speaking with GC Thailand on SKYPE. I liked connecting with the other campuses." - Donna

"I liked my T-shirt! I wore it on stage with my sunglasses for my drumming and singing."

- Buddy

"Participants from St. Johnsbury made films about themselves, we could do that too!" - Steve

"I liked teaching about Elk." - Tammy

"Donna and I got up and did the presentation when we first got there and everyone was pleased." - Steve

"I liked visiting with the other campuses, hopefully we can do something like this again soon!" - Donna

"The food was great!" - Nate

"We all had a blast!" - GC Newport

Global Campus Calendars Online!

We have updated GCF's website! Check it out by browsing through the "USA Campuses" tab and exploring each Global Campuses individual page. For each campus you will find a calendar with classes and events. Just click on any class or event for more information about it. You can also switch the calendar from a monthly to a weekly format. A few of the campuses have not yet posted their Spring Term 2012 calendars so please stay tuned for those and contact us for the information you might need in the meantime by emailing aej@globalcampuses.org or calling 802-274-2190.

Wonderful News From Thailand

Global Campuses Foundation is happy to announce the recent marriage of Kachakorn Thaveesri (Ka), GCF Southeast Asia Regional Coordinator, and Yutthaphon Damrongchuensakun (Non), Director of Global Campus Chiang Mai, on February 24, 2012. Sheryl and James Tewksbury, GCF Directors, attended and were honored to be included in the very traditional northern Thai wedding ceremony, which took place at the Thaveesri family home. February 24th is believed to be the most auspicious day of this year, and therefore brings couples good luck in their married life. Ka and Non have been the key administrators of the Global Campuses network in Thailand for 10 years. In 2008, they visited the Vermont campuses for a two month teaching and learning exchange. The Global Campuses family extends its heartfelt congratulations to Ka and Non for a happy and long life together. Please enjoy the photos of their wedding and explanations about the traditional northern Thai ceremony rituals.

These three photos show the tradition of the groom's family waiting outside of the ceremony grounds until 9:39 a.m. to begin the processional. The number 9 is believed to be very lucky. As we enter the sala where the ceremony will take place, rose petals are thrown on our feet. The original tradition is to wash the feet.

The tradition is that the groom's parents present gifts to the bride's parents to show their gratitude for them giving their daughter to their son. The gifts are called a dowry and were gold rings and necklace, a large bundle of Thai money, and some very special certificates. Ka and Non wore northern Thai style clothing.

The couple give each other wedding rings and then the parents and friends come up and bless the couple by winding white string around their wrists and saying special wishes. Ka and Non then went to their parents and Jim and Sherry and thanked them with gifts. These are fresh jasmine buds and roses in a traditional arrangement.

After the ceremony at Ka's family home, the guests posed with the couple and then went to lunch at a lovely restaurant on the Ping river. Then Ka and Non went to the government office to officially register their marriage.

GC Randolph Explores Ancient Greece

This Winter Interim we have been learning about Ancient Greece. We learned about Greek gods and goddesses like Zeus, Dionysus, and Poseidon. We read exciting myths. We spent an afternoon at the Kimball Library reading about Ancient Greece. The Olympic games came from Ancient Greece, but they didn’t play modern sports like basketball. The events had to do with war, like running, javelin, discus, and chariot racing. Dates, grapes, and spanakopita are some of the Greek foods we tasted. We even made some Greek jewelry!

We are getting ready to celebrate our travels with an Ancient Greek potluck!

By Global Campus Randolph

GC Bradford Adventures in Time

Continuing our Academic Year Theme of Building Community, we decided to travel in time this Winter Interim, exploring the history of our local community. The Women’s Group put their questions in our “Test the Travelers” question box and we went to the Newbury Library to look up the answers. Here they are!

Did you know…..

The Bliss Hotel is haunted?

Water boxes were places in town where horses could stop and drink?

Tanya Aebi, from Topsham, was the first woman to sail alone around the world?

The movie Beetlejuice was filmed in East Corinth?

In 1870 there were 4.3 cows for every person in Vermont?

To finish our Winter Interim, we visited the Vermont History Museum and the State House in Montpelier. Jeannie enjoyed listening to the antique radio while Scott liked the room on the era of the railroad. Robin was interested in the Vermont Constitution. Did you know that Vermont abolished slavery in our constitution almost a century before the civil war? We also bumped into and introduced ourselves to Lieutenant Governor Phil Scott while at the State House!

By The Global Campus Bradford Core Group

Global Campus Shiremont Has A Successful Start To Its First Full Academic Year!

Global Campus Shiremont began its first full academic year this past fall. The Fall Term offered a variety of educational offerings including topics such as Ocean Biology, Cool Crafts, Musical Mystery Tour, Country Line Dancing, Learning about Butterflies, Hike the Rail Trail, Starman and Nascarman (a CB radio class), Woodland Animals and Be Cyber Smart. Participants recently shared some of their thoughts about the Fall Term:

I only took one class about website safety. It was an interesting class and taught me a lot. By Quinn

I liked Maranda and Carla’s jewelry class. It was fun. By Daphne

My mom taught a class at Lebanon College and she gave me good ideas to teach about my interests. Kim helped me and it felt good to have someone on your side. By Ashley I liked the Cyber Smart class and cooking at the Haven for our Community Service project. By Stacey I taught about nature and exercise in my Hike the Rail Trail class. My class went really well and everyone listened to me. We had good weather for our hike. By Nissah

Designing the Future Universal Design Curriculum: Global Campus Complex

Imagine a state of the art universal design Global Campus Complex in Chiang Mai Thailand. That’s what 11 advanced students from the Faculty of Architecture at Chiang Mai University, CMU, had been doing in their recent academic semster. Taking their imaginations further, each student actually designed their envisionment of such a complex. On December 21, 2011, they presented for final review their design concepts at a culminating event honoring their collaboration with Global Campus Chiang Mai participants regarding disability awareness and universal design. Certificates and prizes were awarded.

CMU Vice president, Dr. Amnat, and Architecture Faculty, Dr. Vittul formally commented about the educational process as a great success with CMU students participating in disability simulation workshops, interviewing persons who experience disability to become aware of the culture of disability, and learning about serving their “customer” by addressing their needs and desires through universal design concepts.

GCF sponsored a design contest as a part of this educational process challenging the students to create their model of a fully accessible campus complex for the future home of Global Campuses to serve as the hub for further expansion and development in the S.E. Asia region. The quality of the students’ work was impressive with design concepts attending to criteria such as environmentally green, accessible, blending comtemporary and traditional Lanna (northern) architectural features, and efficiency. Everyone involved expressed that they are eager to take this cutting edge educational experience to the next level of exploration in future academic semesters.

Global Campus Nan - Campus Development and Disability Day Events

Kachakorn and Geng, Global Campus Chiang Mai participants, accompanied Sheryl and Jim Tewksbury recently on a 5 day visit to Global Campus Nan and its satellite campuses in the remote mountains bordering Laos. They had a great time participating in campus development discussions as they related to current government policies and mandatory funding support of persons with disabilities interwoven with fun activities involving passing large paper balls around a circle until the music stopped and then having to perform whatever was written on a piece of paper within the ball. Laughter became the predominant experience as everyone tried to avoid having to perform, yet also being eager to do so. Powder, lipstick and water played a major role when one was caught with the ball as the music stopped. Everyone really enjoyed seeing the farangs (foreigners) join in when their faces were powdered. A great community of campus participants!!!

A second all day event, orchestrated by Global Campus Nan and the Municipality Office included presentations of awards and speeches focused on recognizing the importance of their commitment to the Nan citizens who experience disability. This was a very auspicious event that reflects the importance of education and changes in social attitudes. The Global Campus Nan participants were very pleased and proud to be honored. A truly transformative day for many.

GC St. Johnsbury Shares About Fall Term 2011!

All the classes are great and fun. I like the Rocker Chicks class. That was cool. The music class with Phil and Neal taught me a lot, too. I learn a lot of stuff and enjoy all the classes. I hope I can get my class done about animation.

– Shawn, GC St. Johnsbury

I like the comic club because you can make stories and draw. Yu-Gi-Oh club on Thursdays was great because I am interested in that and I like to play. I made friends and have more things to do. – Chris, GC St. Johnsbury

I like my cooking class this last year and baking class too. I like the Co-op last year. I like heath food at the Co-op to make heath foods at the Co-op. My class went very good last year. I’d like to cook and bake again this year. I like to make the waffle again with apples with wrap for my class again.

– Marshall, GC St. Johnsbury Participant

I like the music class because we share music and have instruments like harmonicas and tambourines. At holiday time we did holiday songs. – Tiffany, GC St. Johnsbury

Phil and Neal do a Global Campus Music Class every week. We take turns singing, doing group songs, learning new songs. We march with our harmonicas. Sometimes we bring CDs and talk about our favorite songs. It is amazing – some people that used to be very shy have learned to perform in front of others. We are grateful to the Unitarian Church for letting us use their space. Everyone is welcome – no previous experience needed! – Phil, GC St. J Participant, Neal, GC St. J Participant, Paul, CIS

We have a music class that meets every Wednesday at 10:00. We share CDs and we sing old folk songs. Sometimes we dance. Adam has been playing percussion on the cowbell (he’s very good). Marc is participating in harmonica playing with the harmonica group. The group is fast growing. Paul plays the piano for us and teaches us new songs and helps Phil and Neal with the class.

Adam is new to Global Campus and started a weekly Card Playing class. Marc started a craft group and he organizes the classes, sets up and helps make crafts. Marc was one of the founders of the Hardwick Global Campus. – Marc, GC St. Johnsbury Participant, Adam, GC St. Johnsbury Participant

I thought the classes were pretty good this term because there was interesting information about the impact of the Fairbanks brothers and their museum, and also the animal class. I researched all the information about the pavilion and the exercise class. I thought it was very important to stay healthy and to look at nutrition in a good way. It is good to get your heart pumping and to keep your muscles in shape. Healthy eating to watch your diet and eating the right kind of food from the food pyramid is good. – Beth, GC St. Johnsbury Participant

I really liked the class on Bones. I learned about science and evidence and crime. We did a packet on the show of bones, who the characters are, what they do in the TV series. We watched episode six and I really enjoyed it. Bones is about two detectives who are investigators who search for science, evidence and crime. They have a lab where they go to figure out who is the criminal.

- Ashley, GC St. Johnsbury Participant

I enjoyed the Bones Class. I liked seeing how they dissected them. It was interesting how they took the bones apart. Rosie taught the class and she did a great job! I also liked the film editing class taught by Scott. He taught us how to make movies. I liked taking the movie camera home with me. I made a short film about family because they are important to me. I also taught a class on how to make apple cider. IT was a good class because I helped to teach others. People asked me what kind of apples we used and I told them about the different kinds. Everyone got to taste the cider and they thought it was good. – Josiah, GC St. Johnsbury Participant

I like the different classes that are offered plus teaching classes myself. I have taught four classes in the past two years and each class has gotten better and better. Everyone gives me new ideas on things that can be added to what I teach. So not only am I teaching but I am learning from the whole group. –Josh, GC St. Johnsbury Participant.

I liked the class on Sharilyn and how she was born with a disability. It was very interesting and it taught me to know her more. I liked my boyfriend’s class on Apple Cider and how it was made. I also took a class on Star Wars and a class on learning how to speak Spanish. I enjoyed it all. Global Campus is a place where I learn about different things. - Rosie, GC St. Johnsbury Participant

What I have really learned last fall, 2011 from Global Campus is the movie I made, called, “Myself.” It has to do with me and why I was born with a disability and am a disabled woman. I like to brag about my CIS worker because she has been there for me. I have learned a lot about the camcorders and how to produce my voice in my movie. I learned what I want in my movie and how to edit it and the pictures. It was really hard work but it was worth it. I would love to teach a class about how I was born and how I have very good common sense because I know I am doing the right thing. My mom taught me a lot more than I ever imagined! - Sharilyn, GC St. Johnsbury Participant

People come to take classes and we sometimes go on field trips to close places. We started with a small number of people in St. J and we had the campus meeting for nine or ten people. And it’s really neat that we have grown to forty people now. Jim and Sherry come back from Thailand and bring movies to different campuses. – Michelle, GC St Johnsbury Participant

GC Newport Fall Term 2011!

Welcome all Global Campuses to read about our Global Campus Newport updates and what we’ve done in the past. We have been a Global Campus for nine years. With Jim and Sherry’s help all the campuses got started.

This year we did a Global Campus 50/50 raffle. Half the money went to a woman and half we donated to the Vermont Foodbank. We raised $205 for the Foodbank.

This year we purchased one video camera from Newport and one for St. Johnsbury so we could film our meetings. First, before we use it, we have to ask people if they want to be filmed. We got the money for the camera from the Green Mounatin Fund grant, which we wrote.

For the last day of the term we had a Christmas Party and made Christmas wreathes and getting our certificate awards. We will get awards for doing classes. Steve taught a class on Island Pond. Donna and Buddy studied Lowell, Vermont. We also did Interactive TV with St. Johsnbury.

Next term, we have decided to do a refresher term. We want to have calendars, team meetings, and more organized registration. We also want to be prepared to teach with binders and pens. We will go over new teaching methods and have class accountability for what we are teaching and what we sign up for.

- Global Campus Newport Participants