EDUCATION! Yes, Marc and I have devoted much of our lives to education.

I spent 18 years as a teacher working with middle level students, mostly 8th graders. I loved it and I loved them. Every day, I hoped, could open hearts and eyes to how every person can make a difference.

My desire to help school be a better place for students and teachers eventually led me

to become an administrator, working with young people in a different way and giving them greater voice.

I loved being an assistant principal and a principal, working with kids, teachers and families. It was hard, good work for more than 30 years.

Marc came to education before I did, teaching for eight years before my first job. Who knew that teaching math could also be teaching empathy, cooperation and equity! Marc's career as a teacher and a coach has created a network of former colleagues and former students who reach out with regularity.

Our connection to education initially helped draw us to Velos Youth Centre. Before we arrived in Greece, our first Zoom meeting was with Velos CEO Mustafa and their English teacher Doris. Doris let us know that conversing with students was the best way to help them improve their English. As we returned this year, we knew that budget cuts eliminated Doris position. Velos currently relies on volunteers and grants to cover content-specific lessons and units of study. Jane and Izzie came with a grant from a French university to use photography to tell a young person's story.

Charlie came to Velos through Global Connect to help some young people study for and acquire their American GED. From the UK, Charlie has devoted years to teaching in places of need including North Africa and the Middle East. The GED will help them immensely with every step forward on their path to university and possible further migration for opportunity.

During our time in Athens in 2025, Marc and Charlie teamed to prepare two young people from Cameroon and Somalia to take the mathematics tests. Understanding American English questions and Imperial measurement rather than metric adds to the complexity of remembering maths instruction, what little of it was available, from many years prior. Both students are determined to persevere.

One student is hyper-focused on maths as it is central in his pursuit of study in the sciences. The other endures the maths as he is more inclined toward the social sciences and journalism. He looks forward much more to the English reading and writing instruction.