Using Crowdpower—an online giving forum—student leaders from the Global Educators Cohort Program (GECP) are hoping to raise $3000 to create study abroad scholarships. Dr. Margo Glew, coordinator of the GECP, has given their efforts a boost with a $1000 challenge gift to match contributions to the fund up to $1000.
At press time, the effort was 70% funded, with $2100 in contributions.
Dr. Glew is a 2016 recipient of the MSU Alumni Club of Mid-Michigan Quality in Undergraduate Teaching Award, and her gift to support her students’ fundraising efforts comes from a portion of her award money.
In my role as Program Coordinator for the Global Educators Cohort Program (GECP), I have seen first-hand the impact that a global experience has on a future teacher,” Glew says. “I firmly believe that all future teachers should have access to this opportunity. When GECP students expressed a desire to raise funds to support future access to a global experience, I was eager to support their efforts and make my own donation. It was a very easy decision!”
An optional course of study in the College of Education, the Global Educators Cohort Program combines social and educational experiences that prepare future teachers for work in increasingly more diverse classrooms.
As part of the program, students take specialized classes in human diversity, language, and global education, and supplement their classroom work with real-life global experiences through study abroad.
Dr. Glew knows, possibly better than anybody, how essential these study abroad experiences are, and how valuable it is for future educators to bring a global perspective to their own classrooms.
“MSU Global Educators embody the MSU commitment to stepping up and making a difference in their communities and the wider world,” she says. “Today’s teachers are world changers who can help young people appreciate and work with others who came from different language and cultural backgrounds, and seek answers to modern problems and challenges. A global experience is not only transformational for our students but translates into classroom teaching, impacting the many young people with whom our teacher graduates interact.”
To learn more, or contribute to the GECP Study Abroad Scholarship Fund, visit their Crowdpower page.