Ms. Mary T. McCullagh is pictured above to the far left in a photo taken in Washington D.C. with the Polish Embassy's Minister Counselor Prof. Marek Konarzewski and educators Serenity Vontroba and Deborah Fitzgerald.
Ms. Mary T. McCullagh, Columbus' Social Studies Chairperson and long-time teacher, was selected for a highly competitive international fellowship program. The Civic Voices International Democracy Memory Bank Project is a civic education exchange program that involves teachers and students from around the world in the preservation of the legacy of their countries' democratic struggles.
As
an International Civic Voices Fellow, Ms. McCullagh will travel to Poland (one of the program's 7 partner countries) this summer to take part in an intensive 2 week study visit exploring that country's social change movements. In addition, she will work with students to conduct oral history interviews with activists in her community who helped advance human rights and freedoms. Students from Columbus will analyze these personal stories to explore how civic ideals are realized through grass-roots efforts. The narratives will then be archived through the Civic Voices website for use by educators, scholars, and researchers the world over.
As part of the training for this program Ms. McCullagh recently traveled to Washington D.C. for the world wide launch of the Memory Bank Project. She met with teachers and international fellows from Colombia, Georgia, Mongolia, Northern Ireland, the Phillippines, Poland, and South Africa for professional development sessions at the Library of Congress and visits around our nation's capital.
As part of the program she will need to provide peer training to at least 25 additional educators in the coming school year.
Congratulations Ms. McCullagh!
