Posts Tagged 'International'

Soon after graduating from UMD with a degree in Communication, Shawn Grund (’10) entered the Peace Corps. He is now posted in Rwanda, where he has found that communication is fundamental to everything he does. He is about halfway through his 27-month service. Grund teaches classes in English, giving math lessons to 8th graders and computer literacy to 11th graders. He talks more about what he is learning than what his students may be learning from him.

“The experience has taught ...

In Vaxjo, Sweden, David Newkumet, a 1984 UMD graduate, teaches music theory and conducts choirs and ensembles in his second language, Swedish. Every year a musical group and a location is chosen for national broadcast, seen by about 1.5 million viewers. In 2009, Newkumet’s choir and the 12th-Century Växjö Cathedral were chosen for this honor.

Newkumet is the director of choral music for Växjö Katedralskola, a K-12 private school. He has conducted the city’s annual Lucia (pronounced ...