Previous Projects
This page highlights projects that I organized with students. These are projects that I particularly cherish of because they were deep learning experiences for the students as well as myself.
Dominican Republic Medical Service Expedition
Bateys are rural communities in the Dominican Republic that developed around the sugarcane industry. These towns began dotting the Dominican countryside in the early to mid-1900s as sugarcane plantations increasingly employed unregulated Haitian migrant labor. In 2004, with the help of Dr. Molly Bliss, I organized a group of High School students from Rhode Island to travel to some of the bateys in the southern part of the Dominican Republic. Working with several local doctors and dentists we spent one week serving over 300 cane workers in need of medical treatment. Before we left for the Dominican Republic, students were trained on how to give a simple eye test, take blood pressure measurements, and basic safety and pharmaceutical protocols. Working with the people of the bateys and confronting a way of life vastly different from their own was a life changing experience for everyone involved. Expeditions continue to travel to the Dominican Republic every year and serve the bateys.
Bateys are rural communities in the Dominican Republic that developed around the sugarcane industry. These towns began dotting the Dominican countryside in the early to mid-1900s as sugarcane plantations increasingly employed unregulated Haitian migrant labor. In 2004, with the help of Dr. Molly Bliss, I organized a group of High School students from Rhode Island to travel to some of the bateys in the southern part of the Dominican Republic. Working with several local doctors and dentists we spent one week serving over 300 cane workers in need of medical treatment. Before we left for the Dominican Republic, students were trained on how to give a simple eye test, take blood pressure measurements, and basic safety and pharmaceutical protocols. Working with the people of the bateys and confronting a way of life vastly different from their own was a life changing experience for everyone involved. Expeditions continue to travel to the Dominican Republic every year and serve the bateys.
Ipala Volcano Expedition
Volcán Ipala is a 5,415 foot stratovolcano located in Eastern Guatemala in the municipality of Ipala, Chiquimula, near the town of Agua Blanca, in the department of Jutiapa. It has a 3,300 foot wide summit crater which contains a crater lake, whose surface lies about 500 feet below the crater rim. In 2007, with the help of the science teacher, I organized a joint Science Language Arts expedition of middle school students to Ipala. Prior to our expedition, we learned about how volcanoes were formed. We also studied some of the local Mayan folktales and myths about Ipala and interviewed a Mayan Shaman about proper conduct in sacred spaces. During our climb up students studied the geology of the volcano. Once inside the cone, we studied the flora and fauna around the lake. We also imagined what it would be like to live during the time of Mayan prosperity and wrote some of our own stories about the volcano.
Volcán Ipala is a 5,415 foot stratovolcano located in Eastern Guatemala in the municipality of Ipala, Chiquimula, near the town of Agua Blanca, in the department of Jutiapa. It has a 3,300 foot wide summit crater which contains a crater lake, whose surface lies about 500 feet below the crater rim. In 2007, with the help of the science teacher, I organized a joint Science Language Arts expedition of middle school students to Ipala. Prior to our expedition, we learned about how volcanoes were formed. We also studied some of the local Mayan folktales and myths about Ipala and interviewed a Mayan Shaman about proper conduct in sacred spaces. During our climb up students studied the geology of the volcano. Once inside the cone, we studied the flora and fauna around the lake. We also imagined what it would be like to live during the time of Mayan prosperity and wrote some of our own stories about the volcano.
Iximche Mayan Ruins Expedition
Iximche is located in the department of Chimaltenango about 7,000 feet above sea level. The site is the historical Mayan city where the Spaniards were received and welcomed as friends by the Maya Kakchiquel. It is also where the first City of Guatemala was founded in 1524. This site is composed of three restored plazas and a dozen uncovered mounds. There is a little plaza behind a small grove of oak trees which is used as a sacred shrine by Mayan priests. Iximche is probably the only Mayan ruins where most of the visitors are Maya people. I organized three expeditions with middle school students to visit the site. While there, students made their own archeological maps of the area. They tried to imagine what the city was like during its prime by writing a description of Iximche full of people living life during that time. We also participated in a religious cleansing ceremony led by a Mayan priestess.
Iximche is located in the department of Chimaltenango about 7,000 feet above sea level. The site is the historical Mayan city where the Spaniards were received and welcomed as friends by the Maya Kakchiquel. It is also where the first City of Guatemala was founded in 1524. This site is composed of three restored plazas and a dozen uncovered mounds. There is a little plaza behind a small grove of oak trees which is used as a sacred shrine by Mayan priests. Iximche is probably the only Mayan ruins where most of the visitors are Maya people. I organized three expeditions with middle school students to visit the site. While there, students made their own archeological maps of the area. They tried to imagine what the city was like during its prime by writing a description of Iximche full of people living life during that time. We also participated in a religious cleansing ceremony led by a Mayan priestess.
