Mentors and Turtles

Yesterday I met with Laura, Ji Won, and Tim, all together for the first time. We went over the schedule draft and they had lots of good ideas. We are all looking forward to working on the program together.

While I was there, I took some pictures of the decorated turtles which appeared all around campus this spring to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the university's charter. Here are a few of them:





Perhaps you are wondering, "Why turtles?" The Diamondback Terrapin (Malaclemys terrapin) is the official state reptile of Maryland and the official mascot of the University of Maryland. All of the university's sports teams are called Terrapins ("Terps" for short), and our slogan is "Fear the Turtle" (or sometimes, "Cheer the Turtle!"). Click on the Fear the Turtle link in the sidebar to find out more. The Fear the Turtle Sculptures link will enable you to see the turtles I photographed here as well as many others.

Hello Japan! from Maryland

The AGU in America 2006 team:

Nina Liakos, Teacher/Coordinator: "I am really looking forward to meeting you on August 2. I hope the program we are preparing will be interesting, educational, and fun for you!"



Kevin McCaughey, Lecturer (here pictured with friends in Ukraine): “Hi, everybody. I'm in California right now, already getting ideas for the program in August. I'm excited about working with Japanese students. I really enjoy their energy and positivity.”



Tim Daniel, Mentor, in Honshu, Japan in 2005: "Hi, everyone! I'm excited to be a student mentor for the "AGU in America" program. I've never been to Aoyama Gakuin University, but I studied at Kobe University for a year and traveled all over Japan. I like sports (especially baseball), languages, drawing, and reading. See you in August!"



Laura Jacob, Mentor, at UM: "Hi! I am Laura, one of the mentors, and I am looking forward to making this a great program!"



Ji Won Moon, Mentor: "Greetings all! My name is Ji Won and I am honored to serve as a student mentor for all of you. I am very much looking forward to meeting you and getting to know you in the future, and let us make this program one of the most enjoyable and unforgettable moments in life!"

The team is complete!

Tim Daniel and Ji Won Moon have accepted offers to be
student mentors, along with Laura Jacob. I am very excited
about working together with these bright, enthusiastic young
people on what is shaping up to be a really fun program! The
next step is to set up a face to face meeting with all three
mentors and Linda. I would like to share our draft schedule
with them and get their ideas. Now that the spring semester
is over, I have to get to work on finalizing the details for
classes, speakers, panels, field trips, and activities!

Student mentors again!

We have been interviewing prospective student mentors this week, and I am really impressed by the applicants we have spoken with. All of them are bright, eager, and talented.

More student mentors

We have suddenly been inundated with applications for the remaining student mentor positions! Linda and I will be interviewing all the candidates over the next week and hope to complete the team by May 10.