Volunteers for the 2008-2009 School Year

Erica Brown

brown.erical@yahoo.com

Erica hails from Gardner Massachusetts, where she graduated from Gardner High School in 2005. In May of 2008 she graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a degree in management. While an undergraduate Erica studied abroad in Sydney, Australia where she had an internship with the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority working in the Educational services and tours dept. She also spent the summer abroad in Salamanca, Spain. Erica came to the DREAM project after two summers of teaching ESL at Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, MA. Working at the DREAM Center in Cabarete, Erica is teaching the arts in the adolescent program.

Laura Budzyna

laura.budzyna@gmail.com

Laura Budzyna, originally from Middletown, New Jersey, graduated in May 2008 from Middlebury College in Vermont. There, whenever she wasn't rehearsing for a musical theater production, she majored in international studies with concentrations in Latin America and history. She spent her junior year studying history and music in Valparaíso, Chile. Her interest in transnational and immigration issues led her to found a campus volunteer organization to provide English classes, interpretation and other services to Vermont's migrant worker population. Working at the DREAM Center in Cabarete, Laura began in July as a music and drama instructor at the Guzman Ariza Summer Camp. Now, as coordinator of the new DREAM Public Library, she is designing and teaching a library literacy program for at-risk adolescents as well as organizing other library workshops and activities. She hopes to also implement an after-school music program as the year goes on.

Naomi Harper

nomiomiomi@gmail.com

Naomi graduated in 2008 from Middlebury College, where she studied Spanish, English, and anthropology. While at Middlebury, she worked for four years as a teacher's assistant at a local preschool. For two summers in a row, she served as a health educator and outreach worker to Hispanic migrant blueberry pickers in her home state of New Jersey, with Southern Jersey Family Medical Centers. She also has performed volunteer translating and tutoring for Mexican dairy workers in Vermont. Right before working for DREAM, she spent three months in Santo Domingo helping to conduct a Columbia-sponsored survey of HIV patients in the DR. During her junior year at Middlebury, Naomi studied abroad in Cuzco, Peru, and fell in love with the place. Her senior thesis, titled 'La Gringa Sabe Español', was a collection of original poetry inspired by her experiences in Peru. In coming to work for DREAM she hopes to pursue her passion for serving Hispanic populations both in the U.S. and abroad, and writing about it. This year she will be living in the coffee-farming community of Los Marranitos in Jarabacoa, teaching and running a small library.

Rachel Norton

rmnorton@middlebury.edu

As one of a set of triplets Rachel was born and grew up in Denver, Colorado, but chose to head east to attend Middlebury College in Vermont. As a "Feb" Rachel took a semester off before starting at Middlebury during which she attended a National Outdoor Leadership School Sea Kayaking course in Baja, Mexico for three weeks. She spent a semester of her Junior year studying abroad at La Universidad de Costa Rica in San Jose, Costa Rica and graduated from Middlebury in February 2008 with a joint degree in Geography and Spanish and a minor in French. Rachel began volunteering with the DREAM Project in the summer of 2008 as a counselor for the Mujeres Jovenes group of the Guzman Ariza DREAM Summer Camp. Currently, she works in the DREAM Center team-teaching English, Math, and Computers to adolescents. Additionally, she is assisting with the organization of the Community Board, as well as helping with local windsurfing classes.

Massiel Santos

msmassielsantos@gmail.com

Massiel hails from the South Bronx and is the youngest child of Dominican parents who immigrated to the States in the late 1970's. She enjoys reading, writing, dancing, and acting, and as cheesy as it may sound, she sticks to the motto "Live, love, learn, and laugh."  She earned the opportunity to study at The Taft School, a boarding school in CT, and from there, went on to Cornell University. After graduating with an English degree, Massiel stayed in Ithaca for a little over a year, first working as a Cornell research assistant and then as an AmeriCorps paralegal at Tompkins/Tioga Neighborhood Legal Services, a non-profit law firm in downtown Ithaca.  Although Massiel still thinks about a career in poverty law, she is committed to educating young people in disadvantaged communities like her hometown. She joined the DREAM team in January 2009 and teaches English, computers, and "Writing through Art" classes. She also tutors individual students and is the editor of Sueños de Cabarete, the student-run newsletter of the DREAM Project. Massiel may be teaching all of these subjects, but the children, their families, and her colleagues are teaching her much more.

FALL 2008

Jessica Schindler

Originally from Santa Cruz, CA, Jessica attended Santa Cruz High School. She later went to Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. At Cornell she played on the varsity soccer team and was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority. She spent the spring of her junior year abroad in Guayaquil, Ecuador, living with an Ecuadorian family, attending an Ecuadorian university, and interning at a foundation for malnourished children. She graduated in May 2007 with a Bachelors of Science in Human Development. While at Cornell she always made time to volunteer in the Ithaca city schools developing her interest in education. She has been volunteering for the DREAM Project since August 2007. During the 2007-2008 school year, she worked alongside the Dominican teachers, teaching 1st and 2nd grades in the mornings and Kindergarten in the afternoons at Puerto Cabarete. She tutored 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students who have reading difficulties and launched a parent literacy class. During the summer of 2008 she co-directed the Ariza Guzman DREAM Summer Camp. This year she will be volunteering primarily in the Montessori classrooms at the DREAM Center. In her free time she enjoys surfing, kitesurfing, running, volleyball, reading, and traveling.

Brian Doyle

A native of Framingham, MA, Brian is a product of the Two-Way Bilingual/Immersion program in the Framingham public school system, attending from kindergarten through twelfth grade. A 2008 graduate of Seton Hall University with B.S/B.A. degrees in International Business and Sport Management, Brian was Vice President of the Seton Hall Sport Management Student Association and is currently working on writing and publishing articles on international law. He has previously worked for a non-profit organization in both business development and as a statistician for the Cape Cod Baseball League. He plans to return to the United States for law school in 2009. Brian enjoys traveling, his guitar, and Boston sports. As a volunteer with DREAM, Brian teaches Math, English, and Computers in the adolescent program. He also coaches a local basketball team and spends his free time playing in a local baseball league.

Adriana Guzman

Adriana Azalia Guzman, born and raised in New York City in a 1/2 Dominican 1/2 Colombian family, has been living through the inspiration of various colors, shapes, smells, sounds, and images all of her life. Raised bilingual, in a neighborhood full of people of various colors and cultures, Adriana's interest in the world outside of the United States was born with her. She started studying art officially in The High School of Art & Design and continued studying Commercial Art with a focus on Advertising at Farmingdale University and Graphic Design and Art Education at Pratt Institute. She started teaching for after- school programs in NYC public schools. The programs have focused on working with "at risk youth" in low-income neighborhoods. To her, the arts have been a positive form of expression for all, old & young, and she has learned that creativity & education go hand in hand. She believes that doing something you love can change your perspective on what a job or career is; this has led her to study, volunteer, and travel abroad, continuing her work outside of the United States. She spent 2007 as an ArtCorps volunteer in the indigenous dominated western highlands of Guatemala, working with the Reicken Foundation promoting art for social change and literacy. Her personal and professional goals are ever changing due to the inspiration acquired through her travels. Adriana worked with the adolescent group during The Guzman Ariza Summer Camp and is teaching "Writing through Art" at the DREAM Center during the 2008 - 2009 school year.

Derek Luzim

Derek Luzim was born and raised in Kings Park, New York. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 2007 with a degree in Sociology and Peace Studies. Activities in college included working as a Teaching Assistant at a preschool and volunteering for Best Buddies, an organization committed to creating relationships between college students and mentally disabled members of the local community. Before coming to the DREAM Project, Derek served as Youth Development Promoter for the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic. Living in Don Juan, Monte Plata, he formed a youth group, taught a course in life skills and sexual health, coached baseball, and led several service-learning projects. As a volunteer with the DREAM Project, Derek serves as co-teacher of the “hombres jovenes” and restaurant groups, teaches health, and organized and carried out the latest census.

Lisa Vandervalk

Lisa grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Mendon, Massachusetts. She majored in Spanish and Elementary Education at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Several years later she went on to complete graduate level course work at San Diego State University in Critical Pedagogy learning about literacy and social justice. Lisa has six years of elementary teaching experience in bilingual and multicultural settings. She spent the past three years teaching at a small international school in Panajachel, Guatemala. Her expertise is in fostering literacy in young children and guiding children to think critically about their lives and the world that surrounds them. Lisa loves to experience different countries and cultures. She has also lived in Seville, Spain and has traveled in Europe, Northern Africa, and in Central and South America. In her free time she enjoys swimming, reading and baking. She hopes to pick up surfing again while living in the Dominican Republic. While working for DREAM in Cabarete Lisa will be working with parents of the preschool students, teaching adult literacy, and organizing a birth certificate campaign to empower members of the community to obtain birth certificates for their children.

Merrill Wilcox

Merrill Wilcox is completing an internship with DREAM Project as part of her master's study in Sustainable International Development through Brandeis Univeristy. Born and raised in Atlanta, GA, she has lived and worked in the DR before both as a study abroad student and as a DREAM volunteer. She studied Linguistics at Georgia State University before serving as a community development volunteer with AmeriCorps for one year in NC, and an English Teacher and Youth Development Volunteer with Peace Corps in Madagascar. Currently Merrill is serving with DREAM in the Caraballo Batey, a small community in the heart of sugar cane fields, comprised of both Haitian and Dominicans. She helps with the Montessori Preschool that DREAM has built there, as well as with the local youth group. She is also developing projects serving the Haitian Batey community.