Celebration of International Education Week An annual event, held in November, that celebrates cultural diversity and makes students aware of international opportunities in Houston. Contact edu@wachouston.org to learn more about this event. 2008 Connecting to Cultures: Celebrating International Education Students 9th - 12th Grade Wednesday, November 19th from 3:30-6:30 p.m.  The Council recognizes the State Department's Annual International Education Week  Keynote Speaker: Ambassador Cynthia Shepard Perry Honorary Consul General of Rwanda in Houston U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone (1986-1989) U.S. Ambassador Burundi (1989-1993) In 1986, President Reagan appointed Perry U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone. When she finished her three-year tour, she accepted an ambassadorship to Burundi under President George Bush Sr. Perry has since served as chief of education and human resources in the African Bureau of the U.S. Agency for International Development. From 2001-2007 she was the U.S. director of the African Development Bank. Discovering Turkey  The Turkish Cultural Foundation in Washington, D.C. awarded four Houston teachers a 10-day Study Tour of Turkey in the summer of 2008.  They will share their experiences from Turkey at the event. Thank you to the Turkish Cultural Foundation for their support. Mary Reed, Spring Branch ISD - Deborah Kelly, Alief ISD Shirul Patel, Fort Bend ISD - Georgia Redonet, Houston ISD International Alley A wide range of international organizations and study-abroad offices will exhibit the international opportunities available to the students. Local organizations attended, and students enjoyed learning about the organizations' missions, volunteer opportunities, and other activities. To exhibit in International Alley at upcoming events, contact edu@wachouston.org Thank you to our 2008 exhibitors Lone Star College, International Institute for Education, The Pangea Network, Raindrop Turkish House, The Rice University Chapter of Engineers without Borders, U.S. Fund for UNICEF, The University of Houston’s Office of International Studies and Programs, WorldFest, & Texas A&M Borlaug Institute. Global Ambassadors Meet the Fall 2008 student Global Ambassadors Krisztina Petho Robertson & Alec Walker. You may invite them to visit your classroom and share their experiences from abroad.  Click here to read their biographies. Cultural Peformances Thank you to Laini Kuumba Ngoma Troupe, Masume Reade’s Woodlands high school Japanese class, Natalie Kassenyeva from the Houston Azerbaijanis, and Veronica Forge's spiritual praise dance. Student Participation Students were involved in the following ways at this event. 1. Group cultural dance or musical performance Have your students present a culture through the performance arts in a 3-5 minute piece. To perform at the event, please submit a brief description of the performance and an estimated number of students participating. 2. Cultural Mythbusters Have your student(s) detail a myth or misconception related to a culture and then describe the fact. A valid source is required. Please have one student per entry. Example: All Arab women are required to wear a veil. View the source that proves this myth wrong. 3. Ethnic dress We encourage your students to dress in ethnic wear at the event. To be eligible for a prize, students must visit the judging booth and be prepared to explain the cultural significance of what they are wearing. 4. Passports from International Alley The day of the event, you will receive a passport to tour International Alley. Visit the booths and learn about each organization to receive a stamp.  Completed passports will be drawn at the event for prizes. 5. Culture Worksheets During the presentation, students will be asked to complete worksheets for each presentation. The completed packet will be turned it before the close of the program - we will hand each student a raffle ticket and hold a drawing for prizes. 2007 Speaker Fuel & Energy in the Future Vijay Vaitheeswaran What will cars look like in the future? How will the Earth be affected by today's environmental problems? Vijay Vaitheeswaran will explore these questions by taking you inside the global race to build the car of the future.  Pioneers in Japan, India, China, and the USA are tackling the challenge of creating automobiles that will run on cleaner energy sources. What are the oil companies doing about it? Vijay will discuss what he observed in the boardrooms of oil companies and shows how some are boldly exploring new energy sources while others deny the dangers posed by oil and risk extinction. He addresses what may be the most important challenge facing the industrial world: How to make the transition from the "Age of Petroleum" to a cleaner and better future. Vijay Vaitheeswaran is the co-author of ZOOM and a global correspondent for The Economist. As the newspaper's global environment & energy correspondent, he covered the politics, economics, business and technology involved in those topics from 1998 to 2006. He wrote about political, financial and cultural developments in Latin America from 1992 to 1997. Vijay is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has lectured at Stanford, Yale and Oxford, and is an adjunct faculty member at New York University. He is a commentator on NPR and Marketplace radio, and a regular guest on the BBC, PBS's NewsHour, ABC's Nightline and other television programs. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.