Skip To Main Content

Teachers Travel the World with Professional Development Awards

Teachers Travel the World with Professional Development Awards

Two teachers reflect on their summer enrichment experiences.

Every year during the President’s New Year assembly, faculty and staff are honored with professional development awards that allow them to travel and explore a topic of interest, and bring that valuable experience back to their students. All of the awards are supported by endowed gifts.  

We asked this year’s two Sister Mary Mardel Fund recipients to report on their summer enrichment experiences.

By Sharanya Naik, Convent Elementary Dean Gr. 6–8 and Studies in Literature & English Language Department Chair and Faculty
I went to Greece over the summer of 2022 — an incredible gift of the Sister Mary Mardel award. As a wallower in mythology, a lover of ancient literature, both Indian and Western, and a walker of ancient ruins in many other countries, I have waited for this for a very long time. The heat was intense, the Aegean Sea the brightest blue I have ever seen and, under the trees, among the ruins, breezes brought scents of olive trees and long-ago peoples. So many ruins, so little time — I wandered in Delphi, Olympia, Epidaurus and, of course, in Athens — lovingly called Athena by the city’s Greek residents who love her most. I visited only one island — Lesbos — home to Sappho, the one female poet in the annals of ancient Greek literature. I was tempted to stay, but put myself back on the ferry to Athens and then on the plane to San Francisco before dreams overcame practicality. 

I was inspired by how proud the Greeks are of their literary heritage. The ancient theaters are well-preserved living spaces where Sophocles and Euripides are often heard. I was lucky to see a version of Medea performed in English, a memory I will share with my eleventh graders when we read the play this year. The landscape is a major character in all literature, and I carry in me now Odysseus’ arid, olive-clad mountains surrounded by a jewel-sea.

I traveled alone, so I was alone with my thoughts for two weeks. Gratitude was uppermost once my bags, lost en route, were discovered. A “thank you” with every step — for the amazing generosity of this award — the opening it offered me; the contact with a different people — so central to my life journey; the immersion in a land and culture so old it put all things in perspective; the adventure of traveling alone to far off places, dealing with language barriers and coping with streets too small for the tiny cars I rented. For so many reasons, I wish this experience for everyone. It has changed me. I needed it. 

By Stefanie Marquette, Stuart Hall Grade 4 Faculty
This summer I spent three weeks in Montana as a participant in the National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar, "Re-Enchanting Nature." The seminar hosted 15 other educators from around the country and took place at Carroll College in Helena. During the course of the seminar, we visited sites throughout Montana and spent five days in Yellowstone National Park. We explored and reflected upon our relationship with nature and the environment, drawing upon cultural, historical, literary and philosophical perspectives. 

We visited the ancient Hellgate Pictographs, explored sculptures at Blackfoot Pathways, and traveled to Butte, home to the toxic Berkeley Pit, a side effect of copper mining that took place in the region. Other highlights included discussions with local indigenous activists, Mike J. (enrolled member of the Spirit Lake Dakota Nation and a Turtle Mountain Chippewa descendant) and Shane D., a member of the Apsáalooke (Crow) tribe. We also had the opportunity to spend a day with the 2019–21 Montana Poet Laureate, Melissa Kwasny.

I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to immerse myself in the beauty of our natural world. I look forward to sharing my summer experience with my students, as we explore the interconnectedness of environmental science, culture and history.