MENTORING AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN BRAZIL (MLAB) São Paulo January 4th to 20th, 2012 Partner Institutions Harvard University David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) www.drclas.harvard.edu/brazil/student/mlab Caros participantes (Dear Participants), Sejam bem-vindos! It is a joy to have such a diverse, talented and dedicated group of students together from Harvard and throughout Brazil for the first edition of the Mentoring and Language Acquisition in Brazil (MLAB) program. Parabéns to all of you on your acceptances. The 15 Harvard College mentors in MLAB were selected from over 60 applicants. The 15 Brazilian mentees from Belo Horizonte, MG; Fortaleza, CE; Porto Alegre, RS; Rio de Janeiro, RJ; São José dos Campos, SP and São Paulo, SP join the program after successfully navigating extremely competitive scholarship selection processes in their sponsoring organizations and having interviews in English via Skype from afar. MLAB was inspired by our positive experiences running collaborative Harvard-Brazil programs over the past five years and by the exciting opportunity to help eliminate barriers to internationalization in Brazil and at Harvard. President Dilma Rousseff recently announced the goal of offering 100 thousand scholarships to Brazilians seeking to study in foreign universities. There is a talented pool of young students in Brazil with incredible life stories, overwhelming potential and an admirable eagerness to take advantage of the chance to study abroad. A large percentage of the most talented candidates, however, lack sufficient English-language abilities and direct contact with inspiring role models. Meanwhile, interest in Brazil at Harvard has skyrocketed in recent years. Despite the image of Cristo blasting off on the cover of the Economist magazine and growth of over 150% in the number of students studying Portuguese at Harvard, Portuguese language skills continue to be a major obstacle to substantive engagement in and with the country. MLAB aims to eliminate these barriers and to create a more solid, broader foundation for international collaboration with Brazil. As you will read in the pages of this packet and – more interestingly – learn from each other in the hostel where you will all be staying, the backgrounds of MLAB participants are as diverse as they are impressive. Participating Harvard students come from Canada, Columbia, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Kenya, Peru, and various states in the U.S. Many are the first in their families to attend college. Most could not be at Harvard without significant or full financial aid. Participants from Brazil, all originally from public schools, have shown exceptional commitment to learning and to overcoming major obstacles. We are targeting life-changing experiences for both groups. Harvard students, please take full advantage of your weeks in Brazil to explore this fascinating country. We would love to have you back as participants in formal programs or to help you chart your own course. Amigos brasileiros, please make the most of this opportunity to learn from your mentors and don‘t hesitate to ask questions. To our MLAB partners from Colégio Bandeirantes, EducationUSA, Instituto Embraer, Instituto Ling, Instituto Queiroz Jereissati and iSmart, thank you for believing in this program, for your advice and suggestions along the way, for supporting your students and for your collaboration in getting ideas off of paper and into practice. We owe you and the many individuals who have generously agreed to participate in MLAB our warmest and most sincere thanks. You are certain to inspire the MLAB participants to dream big and to continue to work hard to achieve their goals. Finally, we would like to thank Mateo Corby (Harvard College 2011 and Post-graduation Fellow in Harvard‘s DRCLAS Brazil Office) for his enthusiasm for and commitment to MLAB. Grande abraço, Jason Dyett Marina de Moura Program Diretor, Brazil Office Student Programs Coordinator Harvard University – David Rockefeller Center for Latin Harvard University – David Rockefeller Center for American Studies Latin American Studies 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................... 3 PROGRAM OVERVIEW .................................................................................................... 4 OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................. 4 CORE FEATURES OF PROGRAM ......................................................................................... 4 STUDENT PROFILES ......................................................................................................... 5 MENTOR-MENTEE INTERACTION & PARTICIPANT ACTIVITIES ...................................... 7 MLAB PROGRAM AGENDA ............................................................................................. 8 PARTNER INSTITUTIONS............................................................................................. 16 HARVARD PARTICIPANTS ............................................................................................ 17 BRAZILIAN PARTICIPANTS .......................................................................................... 18 MLAB GUEST SPEAKERS ................................................................................................ 19 MLAB BIOGRAPHIES ..................................................................................................... 20 HARVARD STUDENTS..................................................................................................... 20 BRAZILIAN STUDENTS .................................................................................................... 26 HARVARD COLLEGE & BRAZILIAN STUDENT PARTICIPANT PAIRS ............... 30 MLAB BREAKOUT GROUPS .......................................................................................... 32 STAFF ................................................................................................................................ 33 USEFUL CONTACT INFORMATION .......................................................................... 34 3 PROGRAM OVERVIEW Brazil‘s President, Dilma Rousseff, recently announced the goal of offering 75 thousand scholarships to Brazilians seeking to study in foreign universities by 2014. There is a talented pool of young students in Brazil with incredible life stories, overwhelming potential and an admirable eagerness to take advantage of the chance to study abroad. A large percentage of the most talented candidates, however, lack sufficient English-language abilities and direct contact with inspiring role models who understand what it takes to make it to a place like Harvard. The Mentoring and Language Acquisition in Brazil (MLAB) program aims to help eliminate those barriers for the next generation of Brazil‘s leaders while simultaneously providing Harvard College students a unique cultural immersion experience in one of the world‘s most vibrant and forward-thinking countries. During this program, 15 carefully-selected Harvard College students will work to inspire 15 young Brazilians through a one-on-one college prep mentorship, focused group discussions, and fun hands-on activities. The Brazilian students from around the country are being chosen with the help of local partners based on their extraordinary commitment to learning, demonstrated resolve to overcome socioeconomic obstacles, and ability – with mentoring – to successfully apply to and succeed in top-tier international university programs. Objectives: Inspire Brazilian high school students to see English fluency as an achievable goal that will help them reach their highest academic and personal dreams Foster positive intercultural exchange and investment between students who have already made it to Harvard and students who are on the same path Develop a model of mentoring that can be adopted more broadly and have impact at scale Establish program that provides Harvard students with a clear path to deeper Brazil engagement Strengthen network of collaborations between Harvard and existing partner institutions in Brazil through a shared, hands-on initiative Core Features of Program: Highly-selective application process o 63 Harvard students applied for 15 spots. Selection process was headed by Harvard‘s DRCLAS Brazil Office with outreach support from College students and student groups. Multiple countries represented. Interviews of all finalists o Partner organizations in Brazil interview thousands of candidates from public schools and successfully identify and support exceptional candidates in multiple locations throughout the country Harvard College students matched with high-potential, high-need Brazilians ages 14 4 to 16 1:1 ratio of Harvard College mentors and high-potential Brazilian mentees o 15 students from Harvard and 15 students from Brazil Inter-institutional o Program is a tool for strengthening and selectively extending key Harvard/Brazil partnerships Need-blind selection in Brazil and at Harvard o Harvard students volunteer their time. Given high financial need, participants receive substantial financial aid. o Brazilian students selected based on their exceptional commitment to learning. Partner organizations sponsor costs of Brazilian participants. Immersion experience o Students from Brazil and abroad will reside in a hostel during the program along with three program coordinators from the Harvard Brazil Office