Mano en Mano Welcomes Summer Education Staff!
As part of a grant from the Maine Department of Education, Mano en Mano will be offering classes to eligible migratory youth (ages 14-21) in various blueberry camps this summer. Content to be included is English, life skills, and general civics. After a competitive application process, I’m pleased to welcome our 2010 summer staff!
Ana Blagojevic, Teacher & Coordinator
Ana is originally from Orono, Maine and graduated from Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York in 2010 with a B.A. in Photography. Since 2007, she has served as the Director at the Red Hook ESL Center of the Bard Trustee-Leader Scholar Program. At Red Hook, she led a structural reorganization to increase center efficiency and enrich student and teacher participation along with planning a bilingual conference on Hispanic Immigrant Workers in New York State. Ana is no stranger to Washington County and last year she worked as a teaching assistant for day and evening programs with Maine Migrant Education. She is fluent in Spanish and her creative work has appeared in numerous galleries and magazines.
Mano en Mano Summer Education Staff and Migrant Education Recruiters (below):
Rebecca Cross, Teacher
Rebecca lives in Hancock and is a graduate of the University of Maine—Orono where she received her B.A. in Spanish and Dance and M.A. in Teaching with a concentration in K-8 Education. She has five years of teaching experience, having taught at Mount Desert Elementary School and the Islesford School. In 1998, Rebecca was awarded the Apple Award for Achievement in the Arts and she was awarded the Foreign Language Achievement Award at the University of Maine—Orono in 1997. She has attended workshops with the Downeast Educational Partnership and Literacy Strategies for All Students and is interested in the Maine Learning Results, bilingual education, assessment, and workshop style writing and reading instruction.
Michelle Hammond, Teacher
Michelle is from Cherryfield and is a graduate of both Narraguagus High School and the University of Maine—Orono. She comes to Mano en Mano with extensive experience working with blueberry harvests from New Jersey to Maine. Additionally, Michelle has worked at Cherry Point Products and as Quality Control Supervisor for Whitney Wreath as well as serving as a substitute teacher for RSU No. 24. Informally, she has taught several English classes for the local Latino population and is currently pursuing her ESL endorsement from the Department of Education.
Megan Grace Leavitt, Teacher
Megan graduated with honors in 2008 from the University of California—Santa Cruz with a B.A. in Latin American and Latino Studies. While at Santa Cruz, she completed an independent ethnographic study in collaboration with the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico and dual theses on the internal migration patterns of Mexican workers since the inception of NAFTA and the migration patterns of Mexican women working within the U.S. agriculture industry. Megan has worked extensively with ESL populations at Pescadero High School, IES Language Foundation, and Mountain Elementary School. She has travelled throughout Latin America and completed service projects in Bolivia and Honduras.
Laura Thomas, Teacher
Laura graduated from the University of Maine—Orono with a B.A. in Elementary Education with a concentration in Liberal Arts and a minor in Spanish. She is certified teacher, is listed as highly qualified in Middle School Science, and has an ESL endorsement from the Maine Department of Education. Previously, Laura has served as an Ed Tech at Bangor High school, tutored at two elementary schools, and conducted her student teaching at the Indian Island School in Old Town. This fall, Laura will be joining MSAD No. 37 as their ESL Instructor.