Teacher training, robotics, STEM for girls: Building on Laurier's work in northern Haiti

This week we are in Cap-Haitien, Haiti planning for the summer Laurier Teaching and Leadership Institute and helping facilitate a robotics program for girls at one of our partner schools in Haiti.

The first part of the week will focus on preparing for the summer institute. My colleagues, Jhonel Morvan and Gabriel Osson, both who work at the Ontario Ministry of Education and who have worked with me in Cap-Haitien for the past three years, are central to the institute. We are meeting with our school partners in Cap to determine what types of workshops will be delivered, the format of the workshops, and the location. This is the culmination of three years of preparation so I am delighted to see us at this stage.

On Friday and Saturday, we will be working with another Canadian colleague, Peggy Scott, and a team from the United States to deliver training to teachers on a specialized robotics program. The school, College Regina Assumpta, is one that we have worked with for a number of years and I am excited about this next step in our relationship. The school is for girls only and the program will support these girls in considering STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) as future career options. This program is the vision of Dr. Allyson Watson, a colleague from Northeastern State University, Oklahoma who accompanied our Laurier team in May.

Stay tuned to the blog for updates as the week progresses.