Steve Le
Location:
San Diego, USA
University: United States Naval Academy
Regions of interest: Asia, Africa, Middle East, Latin America, United States
Skills: work with children, women's empowerment, teaching, photography/documentary, marketing/strategy, health, fundraising, environmental issues / alternative energy, economic development, construction
Stories by this Volunteer
Omprakash Volunteers Connect with Service Learning Students
AFCECO, by Steve Le
November 05, 2010
Volunteer Grant recipients Ian Pounds and Steph Dawes are connecting directly with students in my Service Learning class for juniors and seniors at Pacific Ridge School. The class is co-taught by Todd Burckin. In addition to Ian and Steph, a Williams College graduate named Leah is joining the conversation in an online forum. For her senior thesis, Leah looked at international volunteering from the perspective of the volunteer, considering the "myths" involved and psychological ramifications of a prolongued experience working overseas as a volunteer.Students in the SL class are learning about the work and methodology of nonprofit organizations, both domestic and international, and have the option of designing their own service trip at the end of the academic year. Both Ian and Steph have visited PRS and have met many...
The Global Journal Project Connects Three Schools
Kibera Girls Soccer Academy, by Steve Le
November 03, 2010
Want to connect your school community to two other schools? You can learn about how people in different places live their lives and view the world around them. The Global Journal Project is a way for three schools to form a partnership that enables mutual learning. Read further for more details. Also, check out the sample flyer produced by the first chapter of the GJP, a collaboration between two U.S. schools and Kibera Girls Soccer Academy. You can view the flyer on the Classroom Resources page. If you are an Omprakash Partner and would like to join the GJP, please contact me or one of the Omprakash administrators. The Global Journal Project: The Global Journal Project is a three-school collaboration and a student-run business under the umbrella of Omprakash, a U.S.-registered nonprofit. The model...
Imprisonment, Reconciliation, and Education
by Steve Le
June 19, 2010
18 JuneDuring the first weekend of the World Cup, ESPN aired a feature on the role that soccer played in the lives of the men imprisoned on Robben Island during apartheid. Understandably, the story's focus was primarily on soccer's impact, but the point was that the sport not only allowed the prisoners to exercise their bodies and minds, socialize, and find purpose in their days, but it also enabled them to network, practice governance, and purposefully plan for the work to be done after their release to rebuild their nation. In Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela (who was not featured in the ESPN story) describes the decade leading up to the government's efforts to imprison politically dangerous black South Africans as a time when tribal loyalty was slowly replaced...
LEAP Schools, Teach with Africa, and Omprakash
Omprakash, by Steve Le
June 19, 2010
18 JuneThrough this blog, I invite you to join me on a two-month journey to learn about education in South Africa, particularly in Cape Town. From mid-June to mid-August, I will be living and working in Cape Town at the LEAP Science and Maths Schools. I have come to this endeavor through the U.S.-based non-profit Teach with Africa (an official Classroom Collaborator), which seeks to bring educators in America to South Africa to form professional collaborations with those at the LEAP Schools.These American educators return to their schools with the knowledge and experiences that can inform their own classroom work and curriculum development. Furthermore, TWA’s goal is for the collaborations to result in long-term exchanges of ideas, pedagogy, and resources between participating schools.Founded by John Gilmour, the LEAP...
Check Out Diverse Classroom Resources!
Omprakash, by Steve Le
April 04, 2010
In an effort to share knowledge and direct dialog among Partners, Volunteers, and Classrooms, Omprakash presents a space in which users can upload materials that can enrich learning and understanding. Visit our Classroom Resources page to see news stories posted by our Partners, a news and entertainment magazine produced by a Kenyan girls' school, comprehensive research conducted by Classroom Collaborators on issues ranging from women's empowerment to best portable power devices.We invite users to upload and share their own perspectives, educational materials, and images and videos.
AFCECO Featured on NBC Nightly News
Omprakash, by Steve Le
March 29, 2010
In October 2009, Brian Williams, the host of NBC Nightly News, followed a tip from a U.S. Afghanistan veteran and found his way to Mehan Orphanage, a home for girls in Kabul. Williams featured Mehan's founder and the orphanage in the program's series "People Making a Difference." See here for the story: On the same day that Williams was interviewing the children at Mehan, Volunteer-Grant recipient Ian Pounds was introducing those same girls by name, telling about each one's unique personality, to the student body and faculty at Pacific Ridge School, in Carlsbad, CA. Ian had spent six months living and teaching at Mehan, and had returned to the U.S. a month before Williams's arrival there. Along with his riveting tales about daily life as the only westerner in a...