Building Bridges in Finland with Alumni Enrichment Award

A heartfelt kiitos to the Fulbright Finland Foundation for the Friends of Fulbright Finland Alumni Enrichment Award - funded through the Friends of Fulbright Finland Alumni Enrichment Endowment. I’m grateful to reconnect with partners I met during my Fulbright Teachers for Global Classrooms (TGC) stay in Finland in 2022 — the spark that launched this Finnish-American connection.

My visit to Finland this fall focused on deepening our relationships and identifying future collaboration opportunities with my Finnish counterparts.

That spark quickly gained momentum. First, thanks to a Transatlantic Partnership Grant from the Finnish National Agency for Education, I partnered with my new colleagues at Etelä Tapiolan lukio and Joensuun yhteiskoulun lukio to co-plan a virtual exchange. 

My Vermont students met virtually with their counterparts in Espoo, Joensuu, and Vantaa; took a Finnish language and culture class with the Finnish Language School Association; and, through our Vermont high school speaker series, met Nazanin Berarpour, then Deputy Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki, to learn about cross-border diplomacy.

Those experiences gave students authentic, peer-to-peer windows into Finnish life and learning while strengthening their confidence as global communicators.

In the meantime, the Finnish connection grew stateside. This May, I was honored to be invited to the Finnish Embassy in Washington, D.C. to attend the introductory meeting of the Finnish-American Society in Science, Innovation, and Arts, and in October, to a forum on early childhood education in Finland, “The Finnish Formula: Play, Learn, Excel.”

My visit to Finland this fall focused on deepening our relationships and identifying future collaboration opportunities with my Finnish counterparts.

I began in Helsinki with a reunion with my first Finnish teaching colleague, Venla Lahtikallio, from Espoo. In Joensuu, I reconnected with Lauri Hakanen, with whom I had created the virtual exchange, and visited English and French language classes to share about Vermont and the U.S. education system. I presented to Virpi Snabb’s classes at Joensuun Lyseon Koulu, where her younger students were learning all about Halloween (very apropos for my fall visit on the eve of Halloween!).

Back in Helsinki and Espoo, I met new Etelä Tapiolan lukio colleagues and prepared presentations for their English language students. I also met with Fulbright Finland alum Emma Ojala, recently back from her year-long stay in Minnesota.

The visit culminated at the Internationalization Days of Finnish Schools Seminar in Seinäjoki on November 6-7, 2025.

There I led a session on developing cross-cultural competency and fostering global citizenship, and spoke with educators from all over Finland about global learning, cultural competency, and international experiences for teachers and students. It was informative and exciting to speak with so many educators - and learn about ways they are on the forefront of internationally-focused curriculum and experiences.

Throughout this visit, the students I met were comparing school systems, asking questions, and practicing cross-cultural communication in ways that felt relevant, timely, and personal. With fellow educators, we traded approaches to global curriculum and ways to support future international collaboration.

Back in the U.S., I already had a follow-up meeting with Etelä Tapiolan lukio to talk about continuing our work that was supported by the Finnish National Agency of Education.

Through my nonprofit devoted to global education, Greenbridge, I am committed to sustaining and scaling this work for youth across Vermont, the U.S., and Finland. The Finnish school connection is strong - and growing!