Voices - Vol 4

Michelle Lopez, a bilingual educator dreaming big for her school and community

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 01:51:48 +0000

Michelle Lopez, a bilingual educator dreaming big for her school and community Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/01/2021 - 18:51

Hannah Fletcher

Michelle Lopez (MEdu’21) remembers sitting in her grandfather’s kitchen, surrounded by the smells of home cooking, and peppering him with questions about her family history.

Lopez’s grandparents originated from the San Luis Valley, the oldest continuously inhabited area of ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ. They moved their family to Denver seeking opportunities for their six children, but they did not teach their children their native language, Spanish, worried it could interfere with their success.

Two generations later, Lopez went out of her way to learn her family’s language, and she honors bilingualism in her fourth and fifth grade students at Garden Place Elementary in Denver.

“I eventually learned Spanish, embarked on a journey toward cultural self-discovery and became a dedicated bilingual teacher for Denver Public Schools,” said Lopez, who has been teaching for more than 10 years and recently earned her master’s in educational equity and cultural diversity from the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder School of Education.

The family and cultural stories Lopez collected in her grandparents’ kitchen and her self-discovery research moved her to incorporate her students’ family knowledge and cultural histories into her classroom. She developed an annual family engagement activity, Project Recuerdo, in which students interview family members and journal about their experiences. That rich storytelling informs Lopez’s curriculum and instruction throughout the year.

Project Recuerdo was enlivened by the community of professors and learners in her ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder master’s cohort and the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education, who “live and breathe for bilingual education,” she said.

“My incredibly talented classmates contributed to a community full of passion and dedication. Thus, it became inevitable that I would dream big, as the love for our bilingual community was alive and well,” she said.

“Project Recuerdo became a way for all families to contribute to their children’s education and a chance for them to shine.”

Lopez’s graduate studies gave her additional strategies she could apply directly to her classroom and reinforced her social justice commitments.

I see a remarkable amount of knowledge, skills, wisdom, beauty and love that has yet to shine in all corners of this country. I take it upon myself to develop awareness of these treasures among each child and adult that crosses my path.”

“I honed my skills through this program, but more importantly, I found my voice and place as a teacher of social justice,” she said. “I feel more motivated than ever to serve my school community, but I also feel more empowered than I ever have to go forward in fulfilling that duty.”

Lopez sees graduating from the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder master’s program—not to mention being selected for a 2021 Outstanding Graduate Award—as an act of social justice itself. She did not always possess this impassioned love for education, nor did school represent a welcoming space for her when she was young. She faced several challenges and was seen as an “at-risk” student, a label often rooted in racial injustice and inequities.

Today, she puts her whole heart into her work and leads by example for her daughter, two sons, students and community.

“As a single mother, it’s important for me to show my children that self-love and community connections foment endless possibilities,” she said.

“The lucha (or struggle) toward truth can sometimes feel overwhelming and daunting, but it can light the path toward unity and harmony. Completing this program represents a fight for what is right, and I am proud to lead others in the same direction.”

Lopez’s familia and comunidad continue to inspire her, and she hopes others will join her in dreaming big.

“I see a remarkable amount of knowledge, skills, wisdom, beauty and love that has yet to shine in all corners of this country,” she said. “I take it upon myself to develop awareness of these treasures among each child and adult that crosses my path.”

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Investing in our future leaders

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 20:20:32 +0000

Investing in our future leaders Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/01/2021 - 13:20

Substantial and renewable scholarships are crucial for our students and their futures. Learn more about the latest scholarships created by our generous donors and supported by our community:

A Queer Endeavor Kelley Therese Wylder Anderson Scholarship

The A Queer Endeavor Kelley Therese Wylder Anderson Scholarship was created in memory of Kelley Therese Wylder Anderson. At 26, Anderson lost her battle with bipolar disorder and alcohol addiction, but she did not leave before making an extraordinary impact. Anderson worked with campus and community organizations like Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence, Moving to End Sexual Assault, Youth Global Leaders, A Queer Endeavor and INVST Community Studies. This scholarship supports students who share her spirit, passion and commitments to justice and education.

Leonard M. Baca Scholarship

The Leonard M. Baca Scholarship was established to continue the legacy of Leonard Baca, the founder of the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education who served as executive director for nearly 40 years. His commitment to quality education for linguistically diverse populations continues to positively impact students at all stages of their learning. The scholarship supports culturally and linguistically diverse students in our programs.

Gort and Bloomquist Endowed Scholarship

The Gort and Bloomquist Endowed Scholarship supports elementary teacher education candidates who are student leaders contributing to the Latino community and committed to teaching through culturally sustaining and social justice-oriented pedagogies. Through the scholarship, Professor Mileides Gort and her partner, Jeffrey Bloomquist, hope to encourage commitment to the Latino community and to perpetuate the study of Latino culture and history.

Kelley Family Endowed Teacher Opportunity Scholarship

The Kelley Family Endowed Teacher Opportunity Scholarship was created by Linda and Tom Kelley to support teachers committed to creating culturally relevant learning opportunities for diverse students in inclusive settings. Inspired by the Schools of Opportunity program, a project of the National Education Policy Center that recognizes high schools engaged in closing opportunity gaps, this scholarship aims to further the professional development goals of similarly equity-minded public school teachers.

Elizabeth J. Meyer Endowed Scholarship for Queer Pedagogy

As a ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder School of Education alumna and associate professor, Elizabeth Meyer set up the Elizabeth J. Meyer Endowed Scholarship for Queer Pedagogy to reflect her values in education while supporting the LGBTQ and BIPOC communities and students who have financial needs. Meyer’s research and writing focuses on issues related to gender and sexual diversity in K–12 schools.

Moody-Funston Endowed Science Scholarship

John Alexander and Suzanne Funston Moody have long been interested in science and education, and support aspiring teachers through the Moody- Funston Endowed Science Scholarship. After teaching high school, John has worked as a research hydrologist studying rivers and post-wildfire erosion response. A former librarian, Suzanne works as the special needs coordinator for Head Start. Their scholarship aims to support teachers who spread energy and enthusiasm to their students.

Suzanne Wegener Soled Endowed Scholarship

The Suzanne Wegener Soled Endowed Scholarship supports students who want to teach diverse populations or are first-generation college students. Soled is a lifelong educator and has spent more than three decades in higher education. She previously served as professor, department chair, associate dean and executive director at universities in the Midwest. Suzanne works for ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder as assistant vice provost for faculty development and support, and director of faculty relations.

Women Investing in the School of Education (WISE)

Women Investing in the School of Education (WISE) is a giving circle including alumnae, teachers and friends who are committed to supporting education and believe in the power of education to change lives. Members provide funds and award grants, which support faculty research, outreach and initiatives. A group of WISE members created the School of Education (WISE) Scholarship to support education students.

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Community and liberation by design

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 18:33:59 +0000

Community and liberation by design Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/01/2021 - 11:33

Brittni Laura Hernandez , Bethy Leonardi , Page Regan , María Ruíz-Martínez , Sara Staley , Robyn Tomiko

A Queer Endeavor’s 2021 Educator Institute for Equity and Justice

Who are we, and why did we come together?

We are a diverse collective of School of Education graduate students and faculty bound together by a shared commitment to transformative justice in public education. Last spring, we came together to begin dreaming and designing A Queer Endeavor’s Educator Institute for Equity and Justice (EIEJ). In July, we launched our two-day conference, featuring over 80 educator-led workshops on a range of topics, including anti-racism, abolitionist teaching, queer-inclusive pedagogies, bi/multilingualism, supporting first-generation students, dis/ability studies and healing. We aimed to create a soft space of accountability for intersectional movement building, promoting solidarity across issues in education, practicing engaged scholarship and building lighthouses of hopeful possibility in the service of social change.

To engage educators locally and from afar, we used a robust online platform and offered most sessions in a hybrid format. Our attendance soared to over 500 in-person and online participants.

In this historic moment, when so many educators doing diversity, equity and inclusion work are defending against well-organized attacks on critical race theory and queer- and trans-affirming policies and practices, realizing our vision for the EIEJ felt urgent. Moreover, as people who bring diverse identities and lived experiences to our collective’s work, we have experienced the struggle to come together within community—that is, to build alliances, put egos aside, and truly care for and love one another as a model of the world we dream of. For these reasons, investing in our own and one another’s transformation was just as crucial as organizing the EIEJ.

What is collective liberation, and why does it matter?

We are guided by our belief that transformative justice in education relies on intersectional movement building and a commitment to collective liberation. For us, collective liberation means recognizing that systems of oppression are intertwined and that, in the words of the Combahee River Collective, “the synthesis of these oppressions creates the conditions of our lives.”

It means acknowledging that we all have issues of equity and justice that take us “out of (our) depth,” as Charlene Carruthers says, and that we all have learning to do. It means owning the contributions we make to systems of oppression and changing our practices when we know better.

Drawing on Adrienne Maree Brown’s vision of movement as sanctuary, moving toward collective liberation involves creating humanizing spaces in which our experiences as people “who have experienced and caused harm are met with centered, grounded invitations to grow.”

What did moving toward collective liberation look like for our team and at the EIEJ?

To embody the spirit of collective liberation and to emulate the learning spaces we sought to inspire, our team engaged in humanizing practices of care and curiosity. One of those practices was “the humanizing syllabus.”

To embody the spirit of collective liberation and to emulate the learning spaces we sought to inspire, our team engaged in humanizing practices of care and curiosity. One of those practices was ‘the humanizing syllabus.’”

Weekly, a team member shared a text of personal significance. The collective witnessed that person as they spoke about where they saw themselves, their lived experiences and connections to their work in the text. Often vulnerable and emotional, these witnessing sessions were a crucial mediator of the transformative culture we created with and in the collective where we felt free to bring our full humanity.

To build intersectional networks of solidarity, community and healing at the EIEJ, we designed “meet in the middle” spaces in which participants came together at the end of each day to talk across sessions they attended. As facilitators of those spaces, we designed opportunities for participants (and for ourselves) to grapple with moving toward collective liberation as intersectional work that requires learning, acting and growing together, in community, rather than in silos. Drawing on various modalities such as somatic reflection, playing in a makerspace and engaging in dialogue with “critical friends,” attendees and facilitators connected around our take-aways, reservations, insights and inspirations from the conference.

What are we taking away from this experience?

The EIEJ left us with critical hope in the power and possibility of bringing together educators who embrace classrooms and learning spaces as vehicles for justice, yet seldom have opportunities to engage in collectives that are transformative: “where we support each other to grow rather than compete with or tear each other down,” as the Catalyst Project puts it. We call this hope critical because without it, we can’t get free.

This article was written by several members of A Queer Endeavor’s Educator Institute for Equity and Justice team of “angelic troublemakers.” Meet the planning team and learn more about EIEJ at aqe-eiej.org.

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Voices from the classroom

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 18:15:18 +0000

Voices from the classroom Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/01/2021 - 11:15

This has been a particularly unexpected and challenging time in education and beyond. We asked our alumni teachers: What have you learned over the past year and will be carrying into the future?

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Best wishes to retiring faculty

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 18:03:38 +0000

Best wishes to retiring faculty Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/01/2021 - 11:03

Please join us in recognizing our faculty who retired recently and learning more about their next steps.

What are you excited about in retirement?

Julie Andrew, ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Teach master teacher: “I’m excited to do new things. I will be attending the ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ School of Clinical Herbalism, and I can’t wait to learn about medicinal herbs, where to find them, how to grow them and how to use them in all kinds of different potions. I love having time to be with my parents and my husband and daughter and the dogs. I also have more time to bike, garden and play.”

Bridget Dalton, associate professor of literacy studies: “I am so looking forward to pursuing things that I have always loved, but never had enough time for, such as spending time with my husband and family, traveling, reading, music, weaving and cooking. Service has been a part of my life since I was a child, and I’m taking time now to think about how I might contribute (helping to address climate change issues is at the top of my list).”

Kathy Escamilla, professor of equity, bilingualism and biliteracy: “What am I excited about in retirement—so many things! We plan to travel more, spend more time with our children and grandchildren (to the point of annoying their parents) and being able to pick and choose professional commitments.”

Jeffrey Writer, ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Teach master teacher: “New challenges and the opportunity to be open to them as they arise.”

What are you grateful for in your time at the School of Education?

Andrew: “I loved my time at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Teach and the School of Education. I feel like I was able to associate with excellence when working with such amazing faculty, staff and especially our outstanding students.”

Dalton: “The students, faculty and staff! The School of Education is a high-energy, caring and intellectually rich community that is seriously committed to achieving a more just and equitable education for all students. Working with children and teens in my reading methods course and research projects has brought me pure joy. To be able to do what you love with others who also love what they are doing is a gift, and I thank the school for that.”

Escamilla: “I am grateful for so many things, including wonderful and brilliant colleagues, students who were a joy to work with, the BUENO Center, who constantly reminded me of what my passions in education were/are. Mostly I am grateful that for the last 22 years, I worked in a space where I loved going to work every day.”

Writer: “I really enjoyed working with our amazing students and teachers as they worked hard to become the change agents our society needs.”

William McGinley, associate professor of literacy studies, also retired this last year.

Left to right: Jeffrey Writer, Bridget Dalton, Julie Andrew, Kathy Escamilla

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What we're reading

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 17:15:49 +0000

What we're reading Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/01/2021 - 10:15

A quick look at the recent books from our faculty and community.

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HighlightED

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 16:49:15 +0000

HighlightED Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/01/2021 - 09:49

Brief updates about what’s new in the School of Education

Inaugural cohort of BA graduates working on the forefront of social change

The ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder School of Education conferred its first Bachelor of Arts degrees in and elementary education this May. Launched in 2017, both pathways support emerging leaders interested in making the world a better place through education and community activism. The elementary education graduates also earned the culturally and linguistically diverse education endorsement to teach emerging bilingual learners, the fastest-growing student population in ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ and beyond.

“This preparation positions graduates as the kind of teachers schools most want to hire,” said Jamy Stillman, founding faculty director for elementary education. “We couldn’t be prouder of this class, who we know will make the world more equitable and just through their work with children, families and communities.”

Leadership and community engagement students learn to work with, not for, communities to address pressing societal issues together. The 2021 graduates combined their studies with a yearlong capstone project with community organizations working on the frontlines of racial justice work.

“As a new major, there have been bumps, but the students have been steadfast in their vision, and they have been excellent leaders in their time here at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder,” said Roudy Hildreth, faculty director of the program.

New graduate certificate helps teacher leaders cultivate compassion

Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic halted normal life and disrupted schooling across the U.S., the Teacher Leadership program at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder released the Cultivating Compassion and Dignity in Ourselves and Our Schools certificate track, the only known national program focused specifically on cultivating compassion for educators.

The certificate track is one of six stackable graduate certificates that can lead to a master’s degree in teacher leadership when educators complete three certificates.

Learn more about Kristin Sim, our first Teacher Leadership program graduate.

The program is entirely online, and teachers enroll in self-paced coursework culminating in a real-time capstone class with other teacher leaders to address problems of practice together.

More than 100 educators from across ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ applied for scholarships to enroll in and help continually improve the compassion certificate. Applicants expressed interest in creating more inclusive schools, and bringing compassion to themselves and students.

ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Springs science teacher Kristen Sim is the program’s first master’s graduate. While she was initially apprehensive about the compassion courses, not knowing what to expect, she discovered that all the coursework is intertwined and that the compassion training was life-changing.

“I found it focuses on the teacher and caring for teachers and staff compassionately, which transfers to the students,” she said.

The compassion coursework was Sim’s third and final certificate solidifying her master’s degree and shifting the ways she views educational leadership.

“I feel empowered, and I am a leader,” she said. “Leadership is not the principal at the school, and it's not the board members. Leadership is taking the initiative to do what's right, starting in your own classroom and then expanding that out to your school community.”

Settling into our new home in the Fleming Building

The School of Education has officially moved into a new campus home in the beautifully renovated Fleming Building. The second phase of the architectural planning and fundraising initiative offers exciting opportunities to officially bring all our program areas and centers into the gorgeous new space and redesign the ways we work and learn together.

Take a peek inside the new School of Education building and learn more about the Building the Future of Education fundraising initiative at colorado.edu/education/buildingthefuture.

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Welcome to Voices, volume 4

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 16:26:47 +0000

Welcome to Voices, volume 4 Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/01/2021 - 09:26

Come dream with us

This new school year has been different from any other I (and I suspect most of us) have experienced. Although the school year always signals new beginnings, this year there was a heightened sense of beginning again. We returned to campus as a school for the first time in nearly 18 months. While a few classes were held in person last year, it’s been refreshing to hear and see all our students and faculty in the halls of our beautiful new building.

Many of us have been focused on what we learned during our time away, when we primarily interacted with one another through video conferencing and phone calls. We want to use these learnings to imagine a new future that is shaped by what we are discovering during the pandemic and what we envision for our futures as we create new educational spaces and opportunities for students.

One way to move away from distrust is through freedom dreaming, imagining how we would want our institutions, our schools, our classrooms, our communities to look, feel and operate, and then envisioning the steps to reach that vision.”

Many of us have thought and written about the concept of freedom dreaming. I think of freedom dreaming as the opportunity to imagine new worlds and then work toward the world we want, shaped by freedom and possibility. In Robin D.G. Kelley’s book Freedom Dreams, he calls on us to imagine what we are fighting for, rather than what we are fighting against. Freedom dreaming is also conceived as a collaborative activity where communities work together to create shared visions and actions toward making those visions a reality. I encourage all of us to use this moment to freedom dream to reimagine our lives, our school and the possibilities for our new building.

I have used the concepts behind freedom dreaming in my work on distrust and educational change. One way to move away from distrust is through freedom dreaming, imagining how we would want our institutions, our schools, our classrooms, our communities to look, feel and operate, and then envisioning the steps to reach that vision. This may be a slow process; however, it allows us to move beyond the world we know.

In this issue of Voices, we invite you to dream with us—from Diana Bustamante- Aguilar’s classroom that foregrounds her students’ dreams to Stephanie Toliver’s work centering Black girls as heroes in literature and much more. I hope you’ll join us, and the people and programs featured in this issue, to imagine a more just future filled with possibility and hope.

Warmly,

Kathy Schultz, Dean and Professor

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Force of nature

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 14:49:03 +0000

Force of nature Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/01/2021 - 07:49

Hannah Fletcher , photos by Lianna Nixon

Lianna Nixon’s lens on the natural world is changing education and environmental activism

Lianna Nixon is an environmental photographer and activist, but on Earth Day 2020 she was not thinking about marches or demonstrations. That day she found out whether she still had her spot on the world’s largest polar research expedition despite the spread of a global pandemic.

Weeks later, Nixon boarded the massive Polarstern research vessel with nine cameras in tow as part of the Education and Outreach team for MOSAiC, the Multidisciplinary Drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate.

From images of polar bears to vibrant blue sea ice, Nixon’s breathtaking photography, savvy social media skills and educational lens on climate change taps into our shared humanity and forges bold-but-accessible conversations about humans and the environment.

“Photography and film are really great spaces to hold people,” said Nixon (MEdu’21). “My goal is never to inundate people with the fear of climate change or environmental destruction. It is about inquiry and joy—to get people to fall in love with these wild spaces so that maybe they can do something to help.”

“Part of this activism work has been about handing over the power to the youth, the ones who are heirs to our planet and whose futures are at stake. I’m optimistic about what the future holds for education and the climate because of the passionate people who are in this community.”

Nixon’s photography and activism skills developed at a young age. Her family ran a photo processing company in Jackson, Wyoming, seeding interest in nature photography. Later, she made her first film documenting rhino poaching in South Africa when she was just 19.

When Nixon researched graduate studies programs, the School of Education’s Learning Sciences and Human Development program just clicked. She found the curriculum to be transformative, flexible and complementary to her work.

She paused her studies for the expedition and then integrated her MOSAiC documentary work into her master’s capstone, where she used educational equity and social justice frameworks to examine questions of power, justice and learning in climate communications.

Despite its daunting nature, the collective work on climate action gives Nixon hope. She is inspired by today’s youth leaders, mentors young women photographers and sees a future full of possibility.

These photos are just the tip of the iceberg.

Follow @liannanixon on Instagram to keep up with her inspirational visual storytelling.

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Interweaving education and international development

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 14:47:22 +0000

Interweaving education and international development Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 12/01/2021 - 07:47

Hannah Fletcher

Toni Christiansen bursts through barriers and advances U.S. diplomacy

Toni Christiansen (Edu’70) enrolled at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder with two dreams: to become a teacher and an international diplomat.

The impressive career that followed has been a dream come true. As a teacher in a small mountain town, she arranged out-of-state and international field trips for students. Later, she led two of the largest field missions in the world at the pinnacle of her career with the United States Agency for International Development, USAID.

Toni and her father.

Early on, Christiansen yearned to correct the tarnished image of U.S. diplomacy after reading the 1958 novel The Ugly American. She was also inspired by her father, a Philippines-born Olympic swimmer who faced adversity on his path to becoming an engineer in Golden, ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ, where she grew up.

“My father used to say, ‘The world is not going to come to you; you need to go out and experience the world,’” she said.

With her father’s motto ringing in her ears, Christiansen sought an education position with USAID in the late 1970s. By that time, Christiansen had earned a master’s degree, was working toward a PhD and had developed curricula in cultural awareness for secondary teachers in India as a two-time Fulbright scholar. However, USAID was a long shot, as only 10% of the foreign service officers were women.

Interviewers grilled her about her education at ŷ��ڱ��Ƶ Boulder, due to its activist reputation at the time, and how she would adapt Piaget’s theory of cognitive development in foreign countries, which she navigated with ease. But the interview’s questioning tone—including a comment that she smiled and laughed too much—left Christiansen discouraged.

“I went home and thought, ‘There’s no way.’”

But Christiansen was wrong. She was selected on a 25% quota basis as one of the women and minority candidates. After intensive training, her first USAID assignment was to the Eastern Caribbean covering 13 countries. Landing in Barbados, she worked on various educational and women’s development projects. Despite her first supervisor’s flat remark that she was his third choice, the position was only the beginning of her international work and efforts to put a dent in the glass ceiling.

Toni Christiansen and the Muppets from Sesame Street. As deputy director in Egypt, Christiansen worked with national leaders and local television authorities to bring culturally relevant educational television programing, including Sesame Street, to Egyptian networks.

“I was one of only two women (in Barbados), and in another, I was the only woman. It wasn’t easy.”

Christiansen served USAID for 24 years in Latin America, the Middle East and Washington, D.C., headquarters. She became the first female deputy director in Egypt, the world’s largest USAID mission at the time, and then director of the mission in Jordan, where she was awarded the highest medal of honor by King Abdullah II.Christiansen cherished her work in Egypt and Jordan for her team’s concentrated impact on education, infrastructure, policy development and more. She always amplified team contributions and promoted women and diverse staff to greater technical and leadership roles.Later in her USAID career, a colleague remarked that Christiansen smiles, but she knows exactly what she wants—a comment on her tenacity that had evolved since those early, grueling interviews.

Christiansen’s USAID retirement in 2003 did not slow her work. In the private sector, she was a chief operating officer for a multimillion-dollar food startup in Jordan, led policy development for a master’s in education leadership and management in Afghanistan and developed business management curricula for Afghan women who are preserving Afghanistan’s beautiful hand-embroidery traditions. Her work transcended borders as she helped connect the Afghan women with educational institutions and female entrepreneurs in India. At press time, Christiansen was working to support her Afghan partners and their safety after the Taliban takeover.

Go out to see the world and see it through their eyes . . . . Be a world citizen that realizes everyone has potential and dreams, and we are all human.”

Christiansen embodies her father’s worldly advice, but she would expound on his advice for others dreaming of international work with local communities.

“The most important thing is to go out to see the world and see it through their eyes, so that you can better understand where they’re coming from and be more tolerant and accepting of others,” she said.

“Be a world citizen that realizes everyone has potential and dreams, and we are all human.”

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