Pakistani Educational Leadership Institute

TRIBUTE AND THANK YOU to the PELI 2008 participants and the seven New Hampshire middle and high school teachers who joined together for a one week course integrating cultural heritage preservation, environmental stewardship, and active citizenship. My PSU colleague, professor Kate Donahue, and I were responsible for providing an enriching educational experience for the group of 27. As it turned out one week was much too short. There is so much more we wanted to share and show such a receptive audience:

We wanted to take you to the Belknap Mill in Laconia to present an exemplary model of a key site in New Hampshire’s history that once used the nearby water for energy for an important industry. Oncee there was little regard for the textile’s impact on water quality, but today many recognize that environmental stewardship of river resources goes hand in hand with a strong economy.  Now, thanks to many dedicated citizens who formed the Belknap Mill Society the building and surrounding property is a rich learning museum offering tours.

We never made it to Livermore Falls just up the road from Plymouth, where unlike the Belknap Mill site described above, there is no formal, collective recognition of the significant, diverse cultural, historical, geological, and biological features. The lesson to be learned is that some sites have such potential and are just waiting for a motivated teacher, his/her students, and some helpful partners to turn the site into a rich learning laboratory for environmental stewardship and cultural heritage preservation.

You expressed interest in visiting the closest operating landfill and waste water treatment facility. Stay tuned, it won’t be the same, but I can create a “virtual tour” and post it on this site.

However, upon reflection, now that our collective time together is over, and I can relax and am no longer in the “instructor” mode, I recognize I really want more time to hear all of your experiences and listen to your interactions with one another, and learn all I can from you.  My motive in writing this piece is to pay tribute and thank you, to tell you how much I gained personally and professionally from meeting each of you and being involved in PELI 2008. Isn’t that one of the reasons we become educators, because we believe in and want to actively practice lifelong learning?

Thank goodness for your master/action plans to initiate change in your own communities, and for our expectation that you will share your challenges, progress, and successes with us, so that we can offer support, encouragement, and help recognize your efforts. Related to action/master plans, I read a relevant quote in the paper this week by computer science college professor Randy Pausch who just died of cancer, but who wrote in his international bestselling book, The Last Lecture, just published in April, obstacles serve a purpose: They “give us a chance to show how badly we want something.” So, remember the value of perseverance and patience as you strive to bring about change.

Thank goodness Syeda (Sarah) recognized in her public remarks at one of our final events that the “Academy” is officially over, but the action/master plans are just beginning. Take inspiration and strength from the notion that 27 of you are about to embark on a similar journey as you strive to make a difference in your home communities. We await your stories as they represent a bridge that connects us.

Yours truly,

Mother Nature (MaryAnn McGarry)