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Teacher travels for more than just fun - The Frederick News-Post Online
For many educators on their spring or summer break, travel is strictly a leisure activity. For Maryland School for the Deaf social studies teacher Martin O'Brien, it is a way to make a difference in the world.
For the last few years, O'Brien, 58, has spent part of his free time overseas working on service projects designed to help children in those places, as well as his own students.
For the third consecutive summer, he will go to Senegal along with a group of students as part of an effort to assist the deaf community.
O'Brien said there is no permanent structure for the two deaf schools in Senegal, forcing students to pay rent for the use of other buildings.
"If they can't afford it, they often don't go to school," O'Brien said.
O'Brien said he has raised a few thousand dollars through the MSD community to sponsor deaf Senegalese students and make it possible for them to attend school.
This year he and seven students will be part of the grand opening of a deaf community center, a project started the first summer he was in Senegal.
O'Brien said he enjoys the reactions.
"The students in Senegal look forward to it," he said. "They get so excited. They like the idea that someone outside Senegal is connected to them."
He said the trip is also designed to have an effect on his students.
"One of the things we want to do is take students out of their comfort zones and allow them to see the deaf world from another perspective," O'Brien said.
As soon as he gets back from Africa, O'Brien will head to India as part of an American Councils for International Education program that brings 38 Afghan students to the United States for an entire school year. The program includes a four-week orientation in India that prepares the students for American education and culture.
O'Brien will participate in the orientation for the second year in a row. He also hosted one of the Afghan students during the past school year.
"The point is for them to really learn about our society, and then go back and maybe make a change in their country," O'Brien said. "All the students have these dreams of becoming a doctor or a lawyer or an economist, and they all want to go back and make their country better."
O'Brien is also part of a program called International Orioles, which takes MSD students on educational overseas trips during spring break. He has taken as few as five and as many as 26 students to Thailand, Germany, Spain and Morocco. This past spring he took a group of students to China.
"It's a nice spring break international travel opportunity," O'Brien said. "These trips are very educational, a lot of things they've learned in middle school and high school social studies classes."
While his projects do not leave much free time, O'Brien said it is rewarding to make a difference in the lives of others.
"I think it's important for everybody to somehow, in some way, make an impact on the world," he said. "I think this is one of the ways to change the world and try to make it a better place."
For many educators on their spring or summer break, travel is strictly a leisure activity. For Maryland School for the Deaf social studies teacher Martin O'Brien, it is a way to make a difference in the world.
For the last few years, O'Brien, 58, has spent part of his free time overseas working on service projects designed to help children in those places, as well as his own students.
For the third consecutive summer, he will go to Senegal along with a group of students as part of an effort to assist the deaf community.
O'Brien said there is no permanent structure for the two deaf schools in Senegal, forcing students to pay rent for the use of other buildings.
"If they can't afford it, they often don't go to school," O'Brien said.
O'Brien said he has raised a few thousand dollars through the MSD community to sponsor deaf Senegalese students and make it possible for them to attend school.
This year he and seven students will be part of the grand opening of a deaf community center, a project started the first summer he was in Senegal.
O'Brien said he enjoys the reactions.
"The students in Senegal look forward to it," he said. "They get so excited. They like the idea that someone outside Senegal is connected to them."
He said the trip is also designed to have an effect on his students.
"One of the things we want to do is take students out of their comfort zones and allow them to see the deaf world from another perspective," O'Brien said.
As soon as he gets back from Africa, O'Brien will head to India as part of an American Councils for International Education program that brings 38 Afghan students to the United States for an entire school year. The program includes a four-week orientation in India that prepares the students for American education and culture.
O'Brien will participate in the orientation for the second year in a row. He also hosted one of the Afghan students during the past school year.
"The point is for them to really learn about our society, and then go back and maybe make a change in their country," O'Brien said. "All the students have these dreams of becoming a doctor or a lawyer or an economist, and they all want to go back and make their country better."
O'Brien is also part of a program called International Orioles, which takes MSD students on educational overseas trips during spring break. He has taken as few as five and as many as 26 students to Thailand, Germany, Spain and Morocco. This past spring he took a group of students to China.
"It's a nice spring break international travel opportunity," O'Brien said. "These trips are very educational, a lot of things they've learned in middle school and high school social studies classes."
While his projects do not leave much free time, O'Brien said it is rewarding to make a difference in the lives of others.
"I think it's important for everybody to somehow, in some way, make an impact on the world," he said. "I think this is one of the ways to change the world and try to make it a better place."