Being in high school in 2016 isn’t simple. Keeping up with everything from music lessons to sports practice to SAT tutoring and staying on top of college admissions make it easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. After all, school is only one part of what it takes to be a well-rounded person. So in 2000 educator Suzanne Lettrick founded the Global Education and Action Network (GLEAN) to help fill in the gaps. The Mill Valley–based organization helps facilitate trips for students that expose them to remote cultures around the world for several months at a time. The expeditions are designed using the GLEAN method that promotes lifelong learning and focuses on data collection and quantitative research abroad. Each trip is centered around a topic a student would like to study and involves interviews with key people and documentation of lifestyles. The average cost for airfare and expedition is $8,000. In the past students have researched cultures in Mongolia, China, Siberia, India, Botswana, South Africa and Nicaragua. gleansworld.org
Kasia Pawlowska loves words. A native of Poland, Kasia moved to the States when she was seven. The San Francisco State University creative writing graduate went on to write for publications like the San Francisco Bay Guardian and KQED Arts among others prior to joining the Marin Magazine staff. Topics Kasia has covered include travel, trends, mushroom hunting, an award-winning series on social media addiction and loads of other random things. When she’s not busy blogging or researching and writing articles, she’s either at home writing postcards and reading or going to shows. Recently, Kasia has been trying to branch out and diversify, ie: use different emojis. Her quest for the perfect chip is never-ending.
