During our first semester, we hosted Dr John Barnhill from Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), who came to speak to us about his experience as a surgeon in Somalia. This past second term, we had the privilege of hosting five different speakers who came to speak on a variety of educational topics from university life to biodiversity in Sudan and Ethiopia, to the original tribes of Vancouver.
Our first presenter was Professor Weinstein, the Vice-Provost of Caltech (California Institute of Technology); our second guest was Professor Zumrawi, from the Forestry Department at UBC; our third guest speaker was Professor Asselin, from the Department of Language and Literacy Education at UBC; our fourth speaker was Kim Soo Goodtrack, a First Nations Elder; and last but not least, our parents were treated to AMI (Association Montessori Internationale) Teacher Trainer, Greg MacDonald.
One of the first remarks made by Professor Weinstein was that Anchor Point felt a lot like Caltech! Professor Weinstein was very informative in her discussion about the history of Caltech. She discussed university life and expectations, which is very relevant and interesting to us as we plan for our future. She also emphasized how important it is to study what you love. In her presentation, she included many jokes, which made the discussion light and fun.
Our next speaker, Professor Zumrawi, visited us from the Forestry Department at UBC and shared loads of information about Sudanese culture and history while discussing the impact deforestation and the need for biodiversity. The information and pictures he presented to us were fascinating! One fact that we found most interesting was that Sudan produces about 80% of gum arabic. Did you know that gum arabic is an important ingredient in soft drink syrups, gumdrops, marshmallows and even M&Ms? Artists also use it as binder in paint and fireworks! This presentation really helped us learn more about Sudan for our MMUN trip to New York. We really appreciated Professor Zumrawi’s expertise!
The Upper Elementary students and their parents were treated to a presentation by Professor Marlene Asselin, at their MMUN After School Club meeting. She was extremely informative and spoke not only about the culture and history of Ethiopia, but also helped the Upper El students with their topics related to Millennium Development Goals.
Our last presenter for students was Kim Soo Goodtrack. She came in to discuss the impact of European Settlement on First Nations Peoples with the adolescents, and really opened our eyes to how the First Nations first inhabited our continent. She taught us all about the tribes that used to exist and those that still do exist in and around Vancouver. In order to show how many tribes were here in Vancouver. Kim had us draw a map which was very effective and quite interesting!
Anchor Point parents were also treated to an exclusive presentation by Montessori Teacher Trainer, Greg MacDonald, who flew in from San Diego just to meet with our teachers and parents. This was a parent-only talk, so we were not privy to what was discussed but we hope parents enjoyed an informative afternoon with Greg. Kind thanks to the PSG for donating funds to help sponsor the talk!
Overall, we really enjoyed all of our guest speakers and feel both grateful and appreciative that they were able to take time out of their days to come and share with us, their knowledge and expertise!
– The Adolescent Students