GC Moretown Supports Flood Relief at their 4th Annual Cider Pressing Festival

This friday was a dynamic afternoon at the GC Moretown 4th Annual Cider Pressing Festival! There was a huge turnout for the exciting event. Everyone had their hands in something, whether it was pressing and canning cider or making artisan pizzas to slide into the piping hot cob oven. After the cider was pressed in a hand press we pasturized it and canned it into beautiful mason jars with custom labels. The quarts of cider were then offered for a donation to support flood relief efforts in our community after tropical storm Irene.

Memo from Jim and Sherry to Campus Participants

September 5, 2011

Dear Global Campus Participants,

Congratulations on the beginning of your Fall Academic Term 2011!!! You all are amazing, and we look forward to seeing in your catalog what you plan to teach and learn. We also plan to visit your campus soon.

This past week, the northeastern part of the United States, particularly Vermont and New Hampshire, was hit with a major tropical storm that created great floods and much damage to property, homes and farmland. Many of you live in the communities that were struck by this natural disaster. On behalf of Global Campuses Foundation, we wish to convey our heartfelt concern for all of you, your families, and friends during this challenging time.

As participants of Global Campuses, you have demonstrated your interest and participation in the communities you live. Many of you have taught classes about local areas including about your home town. As a campus, you have contributed to your community through your GCF Community Service Projects and Connections Conferences. This year you have a curriculum theme about “Building Community and Strengthening Connections”. You are a very strong part of your communities throughout Vermont and in New Hampshire.

We know you will support one another as we all process and experience what has taken place. This experience is part of all of our journeys, and we can look to each other to share about and listen to our stories and needs. Your creative educational ideas will most likely demonstrate ways to further contribute to your communities. Stay strong and positive in all you do. We are proud to be your colleagues.

Global Campuses Rocks!

With love from, Sherry and Jim Tewksbury, GCF

GC BRADFORD DEVELOPS THEIR CAMPUS WITH T-SHIRTS!

Global Campus Bradford recently celebrated the completion of a campus development project creating T-Shirts for their campus. During the Spring Term 2011, campus participants identified T-Shirts as a great way to spread awareness about their campus in the community. The project began with a raffle basket fundraiser to raise money for the shirts. The core group then designed the shirts and submitted the design for completion. On tuesday the core group went to pick them up and try them on! Look for them around town!

GC Randolph Presents Community Connections Conference

On Monday evening, August 22nd, Global Campus Randolph hosted a Community Connections Conference at Our Lady of the Angels Church in Randolph, VT. This conference was created with the intention of introducing our campus to the community of Randolph, sharing the creative work we are all engaged in and making new friends and connections. There was a fantastic turnout for the conference with community members, campus supporters, ambassadors from other Global Campuses, and the participants of GC Randolph in attendance.

The evening included a welcome address, an honoring of campus participants, a sharing of the GC Randolph story, many dynamic short classes presented by Global Campus teaching faculty, and a panel discussion focusing on making new connections within the community. The participants on the panel welcomed community members to attend their classes and even to teach a class based on their own passions and interests! Community members were also invited to participate with the campus as a resource person, sharing a teaching experience with one of the GC Randolph faculty. When asked how community members should participate with a campus, Shawn of GC Bradford replied, "Just treat us as who we are and not as our disability."

During the catered meal that followed the main portion of the event, many community members in attendance shared how inspired and moved they were by the campus participants and their impressive work. Congratulations to all the GC Randolph participants who created this tremendously successful conference!

GC Randolph Explores Montshire Museum!

Global Campus Randolph traveled to Montshire Museum this week to explore their current exhibits and get some inspiration for Fall Term classes!. The museum had generously mailed us free passes to get in for the day so while we were eating lunch we all signed a thank you note for the executive director. There was a lot to explore in the museum. We started out as one big group checking out the robotic exhibit and then slowly drifted into smaller pods. The robot exhibit was really neat, there was a platypus, chameleon, house fly and other animals that were robotic and you could push buttons to make different parts move or light up, reading about different facts relating to the animal. I didn’t know that the male platypus has poison injectors in his hind legs for fighting with other males! We had fun with a chameleon camouflage exhibit, trying on different ponchos to blend into a background.

Rick, Dan and I ventured outside to the water park, but the warm bath water wasn’t much of a respite from the heat. As the afternoon came to a close we spent some time in the downstairs portion of the museum having a grand time with all the different permanent exhibits. Giant bubble contraptions, air tubes with foam balls, fish and reptiles in tanks, vortex and current machines, and more. It was a full afternoon!

Meet Richard & Phyllis Forbes – So Many Ways to be GCF Supporters

The relationship began with a common neighborhood – and quickly became a consulting engagement – but without the typical large price tag. In fact, Richard was so inspired by the impact of the young Global Campuses Foundation, he offered his services for free.

That was just the beginning of what would grow into nearly ten years of involvement and support by both Richard and his wife Phyllis. Both have vast and varied experience with global organizations and education. They met while doing Peace Corp work many years ago, and both continue to focus on neglected populations, holding a fundamental belief in the value of every human being. Dr. Richard Forbes did his doctoral research while spending seven years in Trinidad and studying with a guru. He feels that his values are strongly aligned with those of Global Campuses.

Richard has a strong interest in unique methods of education for any disenfranchised groups. He found his GCF consulting time to be an “extraordinary experience”, although he was skeptical at first. He saw the profound impact on the clients, and how empowered they were by their Global Campus work. Richard was especially inspired by how engaged the participants were. They took ownership of the campus and did things the way they wanted. He saw individuals who were distant and non-participatory become engaged and totally transformed. “In nearly forty years of working with groups and organizations throughout the world, I have never before witnessed such an enthusiastic outpouring of positive energy and such uniformly positive feedback as I experienced during my time at two of the Global Campuses.”

When comparing GCF to other organizations seeking support, the Forbes are drawn to GCF because it is also rooted in the fundamental belief in the value of every human being. The Tewksbury’s belief that given the opportunity, individuals will rise up to take charge of their lives – and will grow and develop as human beings, resonates strongly with them. No matter where we start from, we should all have that opportunity, they believe.

Phyllis works with USAID, which requires that she be networked with leaders throughout the world who address urgent challenges facing societies today. The depth of her connections and the breadth of her experience make her a prime candidate as a GCF board member. Phyllis has expressed her willingness to contribute her time and knowledge, as GCF begins board development activities. She has provided connections with leaders in the area of board development, and recently hosted a wonderful introductory meeting.

At one time, Richard & Phyllis donated a Plymouth Voyager van to the Foundation. The campus participants had a critical need for more transportation options, and the Forbes’ wanted to help in the best way possible. They have made many financial contributions to GCF over the years as well – motivated by the fact that the money was put to such good use, going directly into impacting more lives through program support.

More recently, the Forbes’ have offered yet another unique contribution to GCF. They manage commercial property, and currently provide the GCF headquarter space in Randolph at a fraction of the market value of the property. This allows GCF to continue to optimize the amount of support dollars that are used for campus operations.

Richard’s recommendation to others considering a contribution to GCF: Meet some of the participants, and witness the transformation. Whether attending a certificate event at the end of the term, or a conference event, such as the one being planned for Randolph this August, you will see a model that helps people get in touch with their strengths and develop them, with transformative results.

To make a donation to GCF, please visit our website at www.globalcampuses.org

To learn more about a monthly contribution plan, please contact us at info@globalcampuses.org

GCF Site Visit to Thailand Campuses and Beyond, March-May 2011

It is always amazing to me how each site visit with the foundation’s colleagues in Thailand is surrounded by impressive, inspiring and creatively meaningful accomplishments. Examples and highlights of those accomplishments continue to demonstrate the valuable outcomes of lifelong learning and the transformative power of education.

Global Campus Chiangmai, GCC, continues to be the hub of the foundation’s efforts in S.E. Asia. With two other well-established campuses, GC San Sai and GC Nan, and two newly developed Global Campuses, GC Mae Tang and GC Sangkampang, there is much growth to report. Also, Global Campus Nan now supports four smaller satellite campuses in the rural northern mountains near the Laos border.

GCF and GC Chiangmai have strengthened their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Chiang Mai University, CMU, with a variety of activities. (1) GCF is sponsoring a contest with the Faculty of Architecture third year students to submit building and site plans for a Global Campus Complex that is being planned. This complex will be 100% Universal Design, fully accessible and environmentally green and will become the educational center for GCF’s efforts in S.E. Asia. (2) GC Chiangmai continues to work with the student club at CMU that participates with university students who experience disabilities through natural support efforts and disability awareness seminars.

Additionally, I had the pleasure of being invited by the Vice President of CMU to be a keynote speaker and a panelist for a conference of University administrators from the Chiang mai area. My presentation, “Disability Culture: Changes in Social Attitudes and the Value of Lifelong Learning for All”, introduced the conference focus of exploring disability issues and disabilities studies in higher education.

The efforts of GCF are being recognized in the region, and I was invited to travel to Chengdu, China to share about Global Campuses with colleagues at Chengdu University. It was a wonderful introductory site visit, and as an outcome we are responding to their request to pilot a Global Campus in the Chengdu area.

So, as we at GCF look to the future work for the foundation, we are inspired by the potential for further growth to advance the foundation’s mission in South East Asia and around the world. These are exciting times!

Jim Tewksbury, GCF Director of Programs

Vermont Global Campuses Give Back!

Each semester participants in the eight Global Campuses in Vermont and New Hampshire take the initiative to design and implement a community service project at their campus. Check out all the great organizations we have supported over the years!

Global Campus Newport

NEKCA food shelf, Newport (multiple years)

Red Cross - donations for tornado relief

Green-up Newport

Community Garden - community vegetable donations

Global Campus St. Johnsbury

NEKCA Food shelf, St. Johnsbury

Local Family - $450 donation for house reconstruction after fire

Green-Up Lyndonville

Springfield College - Green up and picnic table repair (multiple years)

Global Campus Hardwick

NEKCA Food shelf, Hardwick

Greensboro Bend Methodist Church - planting flowers

Green-up Greensboro Bend

Global Campus Bradford

Bradford Food Shelf (multiple years)

Collected school supplies for children in Haiti

Orange East Senior Center, Bradford – picked and donated apples (multiple years)

VT Food Bank – helped glean strawberries for the food bank

Global Campus Randolph

Donated Thanksgiving basket to local family

Green Up Randolph (multiple years)

Collected school supplies for children in Thailand

HEIFFER International – donated $500

Global Campus Moretown

AMURTEL – benefit dance for Haiti relief donated over $3000 (multiple years)

Green Up Mad River Valley (multiple years)

Global Campus Springfield

Nirikshea School, Bangalore, South India – Car wash and bake sale donated $240

Mercy Corps – fudge sale raising $250 for Japan Tsunami relief

Springfield Family Center, Springfield, VT

GCF Honored on its 10th Anniversary at the State Capitol!

Global Campuses Foundation was recently honored by the Vermont Senate and House of Representatives on the celebration of our 10th anniversary this year. Representatives from different areas of the state offered and passed a Concurrent Resolution honoring GCF and the foundations creative and dynamic work!

Here's the link to the Resolution on the State of VT Legislature's Website.

Global Campus Shiremont Completes Its First Full Term

The newest Global Campus initiative, Global Campus Shiremont, recently completed its first full term of classes. Global Campus Shiremont meets weekly in Lebanon, New Hampshire and includes participants from both Vermont and New Hampshire. Everyone has been impressed by how the campus participants have developed their campus in just a few short months. Seventeen participants were involved in either attending or teaching classes this spring! The Spring Term catalog offered a variety of classes and workshops that provided unique and interactive learning opportunities. The educational offerings included: Where Do I Come From (genealogy and family trees), Animal Anatomy & Physiology (which featured the dissection of a fetal pig in the final class), History of Germany, Pocahontas, Ready To Sew, The Childhood of Helen Keller, Dance to Anything, Disney Classics and The Love of Butterflies and Flowers (poetry). Congratulations again to the Global Campus Shiremont participants!