MATSOL PRESIDENT’S FALL LETTER

October, 2014

Greetings,

Every year, as Fall approaches and we see the fruits of the labor of farmers, especially pumpkin farmers all around us here in New England, I think about the joys of seeing the fruits of one’s labor as an educator. This year I have had the privilege and joy of having many students touch base with me, unexpectedly. For example, there is the young woman from Switzerland, now 23, whom I first knew when she was only nine years old and we were both living in Australia. Her first language was German/Swiss German, and she did not speak English. Now she is fluent, literate and has a job working for a sporting events marketing company in Boston. A young Japanese man, I taught for only a year when his father was a visiting scholar at Harvard invited me to meet him for coffee in Harvard Square in September when he was in Massachusetts for a visit. He is a now a university student in Washington state, still working hard to improve his English while taking courses in history, culture and sociology. A young man originally from Korea wrote me an e-mail to share that he has landed his dream job, having earned a degree in accounting. He suggested he and his sister try to meet me at Thanksgiving when they will be in the Boston area so “we can remember the great times when we were together,” all at the same school. This week two high school seniors have contacted me to share their college application plans. One is still especially keen to work towards going to medical school after spending a considerable amount of time volunteering at a hospital. The other has discovered the world of architecture through a summer school program. The architect-to-be met me at school in the classroom I still use. On the ceiling next to the fluorescent light is a little pink post-it note labeled “light” that he and I put there close to five years ago, on St. Patrick’s Day, his first day of school. That day he asked me in Chinese, “Why was everyone wearing green? School uniform?” His English was so limited that we spent a good part of the day labeling everything in our classroom, hence the post-it note on the ceiling. He is classified as a second year FLEP now, and he is thriving. I am sure many of you also have students and colleagues you have in some way supported and influenced who are thinking of you as well, even if they are not contacting you. Those interactions and shared times are like sown seeds. Our professionalism and daily practice are how we cultivate ourselves as well as others.

In May when I stood before the 600 plus people in the ballroom of the hotel at the MATSOL Conference, I introduced myself as a “facilitator” and “advocator.” I told you that I facilitate and advocate at the local, state and international levels. While I still think much of what we do is invisible, the visits from former students help me to visualize what I do, and what we do. In this way we can really see what we do and why it matters. The “harvest” can be very sweet.

Respectfully yours,

Kathy Lobo

P.S. In May 2015 the architect-to-be graduated from high school and he looks forward to attending college to indeed study architecture in Fall 2015!