Annie Ewbank
Program Leader: China
Bio:A Chinese major at Occidental College in Los Angeles, Annie studied in Nanjing with CIEE. It was her first time in Mainland China, though she has also studied abroad in Taiwan and traveled to Hong Kong and Macao. In high school, she studied abroad in Spain. She is currently a HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory) Scholar.
Annie's hobbies are drawing, reading, traveling, watching cat videos, and learning languages. After Spanish and Chinese, she would like to learn French and Hindi.
Annie spent four months living with a host family in Nanjing, a beautiful, cosmopolitan city with a lot to offer. She is looking forward to sharing what she knows about China and Nanjing with the participants of the Nanjing Summer Leadership Academy.
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Arielle Singleton
Program Leader: Czech Republic
Bio: Arielle is a recent graduate of Penn State and an avid traveler. She majored in Biological Anthropology so different cultures have always interested her. She showed leadership by being a member of the undergraduate student council for the College of Liberal Arts and working as a tour guide and student ambassador for the college. Service was also a big part of her life at PSU, where she worked with the Penn State Dance Marathon and volunteered her time in the Education Abroad office as a peer adviser.
Arielle studied abroad at Charles University via CIEE’s Central European Studies program in the spring of 2012. Living in Prague was one of the best experiences of her life and the city is still fresh in her mind. She hopes to share many of her favorite moments from Prague such as paddle boating in the Vlatava River, climbing Petřín Hill, and most importantly eating fried cheese in Václavské náměstí, with the C1 Leadership Academy participants. She hopes that each student finds new talents, interests, and friends while in Prague as she has on her own journeys.
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Nicholas Schirmer
Program Leader: Dominican Republic
Bio: Nicholas first traveled to the Dominican Republic three years ago on a study abroad program with CIEE and has been determined to make it back ever since. He lives in Seattle, WA where he grew up, but his second home is in Costa Rica where he spent every summer since he was 14 working as a guide with students. After high school he went on to study Spanish at the University of Washington where he earned his bachelor’s before going on to receive his masters in teaching. Currently, he teaches fifth grade both in Spanish and English in the Seattle Public Schools.
He is very passionate about travel and believes that everyone needs to experience the world first hand to learn about it and gain invaluable perspective. When he is not teaching he likes to enjoy all the outdoor activities Pacific Northwest has to offer like hiking, biking, indie concerts, Yoga, and swimming in very cold water.
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Destiny Arturet
Program Leader: Ghana
Bio: Destiny is currently a first-year graduate student at New York University focusing on Global Women’s Studies with an emphasis on West Africa. Her love for West Africa blossomed when she first traveled to Ghana during her junior year at Susquehanna University during the fall of 2010. While at the University of Ghana, she studied political science, dance, and drumming. One of the most impactful experiences that she had while in Ghana was living with her homestay family, who she still remains in contact with.
Destiny is thrilled to be working with CIEE and cannot wait to meet the eager future leaders taking part in the C1 Leadership Academy this summer. Destiny is really passionate about women’s studies, once had a Mohawk, and loves avocados, dark chocolate, and cat humor! She loves living in New York City but feels that her heart lives in Africa. So, to you, she says akwaaba (“welcome” in Twi) to the experience of a lifetime!
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Karen Hendrickson
Program Leader: Japan
Bio: Karen has been passionate about Japan, Japanese, and study abroad ever since her first encounter with the country as an exchange student in 1984. Since that first year in Kagoshima, Karen has lived, worked, and studied in Tokyo, Sapporo, and Obihiro. She has taken more than 20 trips to Japan, more than half of them as a leader of student groups and two of them as a CIEE Summer Abroad in Japan chaperone.
As a teacher of Japanese language and culture in Madison, Wisconsin, she relishes being able to guide her students toward the linguistic tools and cultural knowledge they need to understand Japan more deeply. She looks forward to doing the same with the C1 Summer Leadership Academy.
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Marzieh Goudarzi
Program Leader: Jordan
Bio: Marzieh is currently a correspondent with Inter Press Services' (IPS) United Nations Bureau in New York. She earned her bachelor's degree in Diplomacy and World Affairs from Occidental College in Los Angeles. As an undergraduate, she studied Arabic for a semester in Jordan and also spent a semester interning at the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York. After graduating, Marzieh returned to Jordan on a year-long Fulbright Fellowship, researching entrepreneurial education programs and their impact on students and economic development with a local Jordanian NGO, Injaz.
Wadi Rum, the beautiful desert and natural reserve in the south, is one of her favorite places in all of Jordan and was the site of her first skydiving adventure! She is very excited about guiding students through this country that she loves so much, showing them how cultural immersion can teach understanding and appreciation of the unknown as well as of oneself. Marzieh hopes to remain based in the region, writing as a freelance journalist and pursuing her interests in development work.
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HollyAnne Joyner Giffin
Program Leader: Senegal
Bio: HollyAnne is currently a full-time teacher and dorm parent at a school outside Houston, Texas. Previously she has worked as an outdoor adventure guide and a translator. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Georgetown University in 2010 and studied abroad three times during her undergraduate career. Dakar with CIEE in the Spring of 2009 was, of course, her favorite stint abroad.
When she’s not working, HollyAnne enjoys cooking, singing, and exploring new places. She is delighted to return to beautiful Senegal and share the experience of car rapides (colorful public transport) with motivated high schoolers!
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Lauren Vachon
Program Leader: Spain
Bio: Lauren Vachon is a twenty-two year old student at Northeastern University, in Boston, MA. She is currently on co-op, working full time at a non-profit organization. Her major is International Affairs and Spanish. She recently returned from Sevilla after studying abroad with CIEE this past fall and anxiously awaits returning. Lauren is fluent in Spanish and after both years of study and her hands-on learning in Sevilla, has a deep understanding of the Spanish culture and daily life.
Being in a leadership role is nothing new for Lauren. She has been a tutor for underprivileged and at-risk high school students in Boston, and while abroad in Sevilla, worked outside the city at an elementary school with students ranging from 6 to 9 years old, teaching English. Her experience as a high school student on a similar leadership program in New Zealand and Australia gives her the understanding of the excitement and opportunity of this Leadership program, as well as the ability to provide boundaries for the participants.
Lauren hopes to instill her passion for learning, traveling and share her enthusiasm and knowledge of the culture in Sevilla to the great group of students that will share this experience with her in Sevilla and Morocco this summer during the C1 Leadership Academy.
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