BECA Welcomes New Board Members

With great thanks to previous board members Jon Dolan and Jon Giftos, BECA is very pleased to announce the appointment of a number of new board members.

Executive Board

Erika Sturm (Treasurer): Beginning her involvement with BECA as a teacher during the 2005-2006 school year, Erika has remained committed to BECA, returning to Cofradia in the spring of 2008 to finish out the school year as the 4th grade teacher.

Erika has shown her ongoing commitment to BECA by visiting Cofradia on multiple occasions. While in the U.S., Erika has organized book drives for the San Jeronimo library, contributing over 1,000 books to the collection.

Between teaching stints in Honduras, she has worked as the Investment Coordinator at the Latino Community Credit Union and as a Retirement Services Representative at Fidelity Investments, both in North Carolina. While at the credit union, Erika helped low-income Latino immigrants receive loans by seeking investors and funders to support the lending program. Erika received degrees in Business Administration and Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As Treasurer, Erika is excited to use her financial background and business education to further BECA's mission.

Jaime Koppel (Chairperson): Since graduating from Hamilton College, Jaime Koppel has lived and worked in Western Europe, the Balkans, Central America and New York. While living in Honduras from 2001 - 2003, Jaime founded BECA.

In addition to her nonprofit management and education work with BECA, Jaime has experience in the fields of child welfare, public education, alumni relations, and fundraising/development. She is currently working as a consultant for the Children's Defense Fund - New York office. She has also served as Chief of Staff for the Executive Deputy Commissioner of New York City's Administration for Children's Services. During her time with Children's Services she managed over $3.5 million dollars in grants; was nominated for the selective NYC Management Academy and served as the agency's liaison to a not-for-profit that supports the needs of young people in foster care. In 2007, Jaime was selected as a New York City Education Pioneers Fellow. As an Education Pioneer she worked with the NYC Department of Education in their Office of Portfolio Development.

Jaime has a Master degree in Public Administration from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA). Her concentration at SIPA was Economic and Political Development. At Columbia University she was awarded the Harvey Picker Prize for Public Service for her demonstrated commitment to serving others.

Jaime has been an active member of the Project Honduras Network since 2000. She and her husband Eli recently returned to New York City after a year abroad in Kosovo.

Jasmine Roberts (Vice-Chairperson) is a BECA alumna who volunteered during the 2005-2006 year as the kindergarten and preschool teacher, and returned the following year to serve as the Program Administrator. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame with a BA in anthropology and international peace studies, Jasmine has focused her energies post-graduation on youth programming in various non-profit youth organizations in the Midwest.

As part of the BECA team, she gained invaluable experience in the classroom and community; organizing the Summer Camp, coordinating the teachers' professional development weekends, administering the scholarship program, interfacing with BECA's Honduran partners, supporting the teaching team, and truly immersing herself in the community of Cofradia.

Upon her return to the States, she began working for La Plaza, a non-profit organization in Indianapolis that is dedicated to empowering and integrating the Hispanic community in Central Indiana. As an Education Specialist, she coordinates a program that encourages Hispanic teens to pursue a post-secondary education. She is extremely grateful to be able to incorporate her experiences from Honduras into her current job, and hopes to continue a career path dedicated to assuring that all children have the opportunity to receive a quality education.

Laurence Birdsey (Secretary) joined BECA's volunteer corps in early 2007 to fill in as the Kinder and Preparatoria teacher where he regained an appreciation for epic relay races. Since then, he has assisted BECA in a number of areas, including volunteer recruitment, fundraising, and strategy development.

Before arriving in Cofradia, Laurence attended Davidson College where he majored in History and Spanish, graduating as a Kelley Honors Scholar. After his graduation in 2004, Laurence worked for the alternative investments firm Fairfield Greenwich Group in New York City as a legal and compliance analyst.

Laurence's first exposure to Central America took place in 2003, when he helped lead a Habitat for Humanity trip to Guatemala. His participation with BECA represents a continuation of his desire to bring about positive change in the region.

Directors:

Anna Hickman taught with BECA during the 2006-2007 school year. She was the first grade teacher and loved teaching her energetic 6 year-olds! She also helped organize and facilitate the literacy program, Libros and Familias.

In 2007-2008, Anna taught pre-Kindergarten at an charter school in Washington, D.C. She implemented the Opening the World of Learning curriculum for her diverse and fun group of students. She was able to use a lot of the techniques she used in Honduras with the English-language learners she had in her classroom.

Anna graduated from Davidson College in 2006 with a degree in Psychology and Spanish. While at Davidson, she organized a swimming program for local Hispanic Families, Amigos del Agua. She also taught ESL to many different age groups.

Anna visited Cofradia during her school's spring break in 2007-2008 and was thrilled to see the progress of her little ones (and how tall they had gotten!) For the 2008-2009 school year, Anna is making another move- this time to Sweden to teach at an international school. Her passion for education has kept her involved with BECA throughout the past year and she is excited to keep working with the school and the organization.

Bridget Kelly taught middle school English with BECA during 2006-07, and also enjoyed coordinating the Junior Achievement program and proposing and implementing the Bilingual Bachillerato Program. She is thrilled to continue her involvement with BECA as a Board member.

Bridget graduated from Yale University with a degree in English and a concentration in journalism. Pursuing her interest in education, she wrote her senior essay on Teach For America.

Following graduation, Bridget worked in public affairs at the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan. She also volunteered as an adult literacy teacher and completed freelance work for Education Sector, a policy think tank. In fall of 2007, she moved to Boston to work as a New Sector Resident in Social Enterprise at ACCESS. At ACCESS, a nonprofit that provides scholarships and financial aid advising for Boston youth, she gained further insight into education policy issues.

Bridget is currently studying public policy at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School, with the goal of becoming an education policy analyst and working to ensure that students from all backgrounds can reach their highest potential.

Eloisa Rodriguez is a doctoral student in Curriculum Studies at Purdue University in Indiana. Her research is focused on a critical ethnographical study on grassroot community schools. She had served as the president of the Curriculum and Instruction Graduate Student Association at Purdue and serves as the organizer for the Honduras Study Abroad Maymester Program for Purdue which has been in place since 2003.

Eloisa has been in the curriculum studies doctoral program since August 2005. She earned a MS.Ed. from Purdue University in 2003 as a Fulbright scholar and a B.A. in Pedagogy from her hometown university in Honduras. She has presented at AERA, NAME and HICE scholarly conferences.

Emily Morgan is a BECA alumna who taught fifth grade during the 2006-2007 school year. In early 2008, she returned to Honduras to visit SJBS and was excited to see how much her class and the rest of the students had improved in just a few months!

Emily graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a degree in Environmental Studies. Following teaching with BECA she began a dual MS-Nutrition/MPH degree focused on Agriculture, Food and the Environment at Tufts University.

Emily is currently living in Australia while completing a Fulbright Scholarship to study the sustainability of the food system, but will return to Tufts in January 2009 to complete her graduate degrees. Emily hopes to follow a career path that allows to her combine education, communications and food systems studies. She is extremely excited about staying involved with BECA and looking forward to her next visit to Cofradia.

Hilary Hammell taught math and science to 7th, 8th, and 9th graders with BECA in the 2006-2007 school year. She is most proud of having helped SJBS's first graduating cohort of 9th graders matriculate to high school. To that end, Hilary co-founded the BECA Bachillerato Program and worked with St. Andrew's School in Delaware to implement the first-ever St. Andrew's - BECA scholarship, for SJBS '07 grad Kervin Zamora.

An alumna of Yale University, Hilary is now a legal assistant to the Latin America program at the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York. Hilary is currently working with St. Andrew's to expand and build upon the St. Andrew's-BECA relationship; and continues to support Kervin as his in-country guardian.

Marilyn Markman joined BECA in 2006 as the third grade teacher and then continued on to direct the summer program. A graduate from Brown University with a B.A. in Development Studies, with BECA Marilyn was able to experience develoment in action through the lense of a grassroots NGO and the Honduran community, where she tutored and worked with local artists to produce a play.

Raised between Puerto Rico, the United States and Argentina, Marilyn is no stranger to multiculturalism and is now applying her knowledge at the World Bank, where she works in project management and communications.

In her constant pursuit of new challenges, she welcomes the next phase in BECA's development and looks to strengthen the organization's role as a conduit of development for its volunteers and partner communities.

Mel Bride is a founding member of BECA's board. In addition to her service with BECA, Mel joined Sustainable Harvest International's Board in 2007 and she serves as Director of International Sales and Marketing for the Juan Pablo Segundo Cooperative, a women's sewing cooperative outside La Ceiba, Honduras. Mel has led a number of service trips to Honduras to visit each of these organizations.

Mel, her husband Jim and their two children live outside Providence, Rhode Island where Mel works for The Gordon School in a number of different capacities. After years of teaching Spanish, she is moving into a role doing admissions as well as supporting the creation of a holistic physical education program and coaching lacrosse.

Mel is responsible for several key BECA relationships with schools where Mel and her husband Jim have previously worked. She built our strong relationship with St. Andrew's School in Delaware, from which we have recruited a number of our BECA teachers and where a SJBS alumnus is currently studying on a full scholarship. She also helped us to establish a strong relationship with Alison Bixby Stone School (ABSS) at Zamorano in Honduras. The staff at ABSS have helped BECA to significantly deepen the professional development training we are able to provide our volunteer teachers.

Nick Zosel-Johnson is a BECA alumnus who served as the founder of the summer camp program in 2006. He later consulted for BECA to create a sustainable social tourism program and re-launch the BECA website.

A graduate of Claremont McKenna College, Nick holds a BA in Government.

Currently, he is working for Teach For America in the Chicago Public School system. He is dedicated to the idea of achieving greater social justice through high quality education.

Sallie Graves taught first grade with BECA during the 2005-2006 schoolyear. In her studies at Wofford College, Sallie majored in Intercultural Studies and spent one semester in Costa Rica and another in Chile. She joins many alumni of St. Andrew's School who have had the fortunate opportunity to serve with BECA.

Now shaping her career in Boston, Sallie has called on her experience with BECA while teaching in independent elementary schools and with a college access program called the Steppingstone Foundation.

Sallie's membership to a wide array of academic communities has led her to believe that increasing access to quality education is the most worthwhile endeavor in our society today. Seeing an urgent need to bring diverse perspectives to global discussions, Sallie feels that we must first commit to sending more children through high school and college. As Sallie seeks a permanent role in the world of educational non-profit organizations, she also looks eagerly ahead to continuing her work as a recruiter and spokesperson for BECA.