Orientation Meeting #1

Yesterday we had our first Orientation Meeting! I really enjoyed getting to see many of you again...and many of you for the first time. Two hours went by incredibly fast! At the very end I realized my camera was still in the car...I had so wanted to take photos to post here...I guess I'll have to wait until January!

One of the topics we discussed was "Global Awareness/Destination-specific Education." I thought I would recap that here.

Each delegate needs to research some area of Australia...related to either a place, custom, government, culture, building...etc. We had some ideas listed which some of you signed up for. The objective is that you will learn something about Australia and share it. You can choose to give a presentation - either in a group or alone; create a 'travel brochure' about a place; write a review of a book on Australia; write a paper about some aspect of the country; ... you may have another idea...these are just some we thought of. Here are the ideas we had and the people who signed up for them. If you decide which topic you would like, just tell me in the comments section (under this post), send me an email, or tell me on January 27th.

Boomerangs - Peter, Daniel
Aborigines - Nicole
Aboriginal Art - Shelby L.
Corroboree - Tia
Dreamtime - Sara E., Brittany, Kendra
Didgeridoo - Sarah B., Darren
Great Barrier Reef - Alex, Kayla
Sydney Opera House - Lauren, Andrea
Sydney Harbour
Sydney Olympic Park - Stacy, Samir, Erin
Canberra - Emily, Stephanie, Ginalisa
Australian War Museum - Robert
Darwin - Kyle
Litchfield National Park
Kakadu National Park - Garrett
Katherine (&Edith Falls) - Hannah
Rainforests - Sara F., Caitlin, Margot
Cairns
*Picture Slide Show & Google Earth Presentation- Chad

Current Events was another topic we discussed. Each delegate is to bring a paragraph about a current event in Australia...and one in the United States to each meeting. We handed out a paper explaining this. There are SO many Australian newpapers online. To be an ambassador, we not only need to know what's going on in our own country, but also the country we're visiting. That's the purpose for this. (Plus it's required from the Washington School of World Studies!)