Episode #18 Storytellers

Our storytellers in Episode 18 are:

Carol Conzelman

Carol is a culture anthropologist at the University of Colorado-Boulder. She is the Associate Director for the Global Studies Academic Program, Faculty-in-Residence for the Sustainability and Social Innovation Academic Program, and directs a summer study abroad program in the Yungas of Bolivia. Carol serves on the Global Volunteers Board and chairs the Reaching Children’s Potential Committee.

Lisa Graumlich

Lisa is a world-renowned climate change expert and distinguished professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her initial work was tracking the climate of an area using data from trees. She served in Tanzania in 2014 with her daughter Maya and again in 2016 to help establish the Reaching Children‘s Potential program. Read about Lisa and Maya’s journey here.

Jeff Rogo

Jeff, a retired real estate professional, joined his first Global Volunteers team in 2003, seeking solace in service after the death of his wife. He discovered that teaching conversational English in Puglia, Italy launched his healing journey. Since then, he’s become a Global Volunteers team leader in Cuba, Vietnam, and on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana.

Mike Tormey

Mike is a second-year student double-majoring in Civil Engineering and Economics and a Resident Assistant and Scholar at Northwestern University. He and Elisa (below) were co-leaders for a 2017 alternative spring break to Cuba with Global Volunteers. As a campus tour guide, he promotes the university and the College of Engineering to prospective students.

Elisa Figueras

Elisa is a Northwestern University biology major and co-leader with Mike of an alternative spring break student group in 2017. She and Mike agree that the group’s most important accomplishment was the connections they formed with Cubans around the island. Over the week, they say, they “had countless opportunities to see and interact with the real Cuba.”