¡Buenos días! We hope that this letter finds you finishing up your school work, brushing up on your Spanish and getting excited for an amazing summer filled with new friends and exciting adventures. By deciding to come on Bridge Puerto Rico you have already decided to make this summer a memorable one.
On Bridge Puerto Rico, we will spend the month of July enjoying all of the wonderful adventures that this beautiful island has to offer while also having the opportunity to experience its culture by creating and running our own friendship camp and through daily interactions with locals. Whether you are leading an activity for a group of young children, kayaking on the biobay or flying across the canopy on a zipline, we are confident that you will be challenged to grow and learn about yourself and others all while enjoying the summer of your life.
We are unbelievably excited to meet you and to learn all about you when the trip begins. Until then, here is a little information about us.
Combined, we have 4 years of experience working at Windsor Mountain International Summer Camp. Jonathan spent last summer in the Wilderness Tripping Department, leading three day trips around New England. Leah spent a summer working in the Tent Unit as the Community Service counselor, moved onto the Wilderness Tripping Department for a summer and last year led the Bridge Puerto Rico trip. We are so excited to be working together this summer and we can’t wait to share the experience with you!
Leah:
I grew up in Easton, Massachusetts, and moved to Providence, Rhode Island when I was in 7th grade. I studied Social Anthropology with a focus in Political Ecology at Harvard in Cambridge Massachusetts. I focused on how certain groups of people or cultures interact with, use and understand their natural environments. Since college this has translated into an active interest in the ideas of “local” and “organic” and has led me to start my own urban gardening project at my house in Somerville, MA.
When I am not in my garden, in my free time I can be found rock climbing, backpacking, going on long runs or chasing down a Frisbee during an Ultimate Frisbee game. When the weather keeps me inside I love watching movies, curling up with a book or keeping my hands occupied with my latest knitting project. This year I have been traveling all over the U.S. to recruit students for a high school study abroad program. I have enjoyed getting to visit so many new states, and was often able to find time to sneak in a hike or a run, the most memorable of which was running across the golden gate bridge at sunset.
I am super excited to be leading Bridge Puerto Rico again. I look forward to meeting all of you, creating an unforgettable adventure, helping you with your Spanish and sharing my favorite parts of the island with you!
Jonathan:
Hello everyone, here’s a little about me. I grew up in the Boston area but went to college out west at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. I graduated with a degree in mathematics and Hispanic studies, and also had the opportunity to study abroad in Chile. My time there living with a family in another culture had a profound effect on me, spawning in me a love of travel. Since graduation I’ve been working with youth in various settings both here in the US and abroad. This past fall I worked in Hong Kong and China leading amazing outdoor activities and coordinating meaningful volunteer service for teens.
I love to travel and play in the outdoors. Particularly, I enjoy biking, rock climbing and good game of ultimate Frisbee (be prepared to play a little this summer!). My favorite thing about traveling is how the new food, people, and physical spaces captivate my imagination and astound me in unexpected ways. I have spent considerable time in Latin America and Spain, and I’m curious to explore how Puerto Rico feels compared to the rest of the US and other parts of Latin America. I’m psyched to be able to share this adventure alongside all of you!
If you have time, it would be great if you could come up with a list of why Puerto Rico is different then the 50 States of America. You can use any means to generate this list, dinner table discussions, books, teachers, or the Internet. Hopefully we will all have a lot to share and learn about Puerto Rico during the first days of the trip.
As your leaders we will be there to support you and make sure that the trip is safe and fun, however as a group we will also need each one of you to support one another. Each of you will have the chance to lead the group and contribute to our collective experience in meaningful ways. We ask that you come prepared to participate, engage your minds, and ask questions. Active participation is essential on a trip of this nature and we guarantee that the more you put into it, the more you will get out of it.
If you have any questions, we will be up at camp and would love to hear from you. We can’t tell you how excited we are to meet you! Good luck finishing up the school year!
Sincerely, Leah and Jonathan
No comments:
Post a Comment