Though it’s already been two weeks since we officially bid adieu to Brazil (oh how the suntan fades so fast), you can rest assured that back here in Boston we study tour members are keeping the memories alive! In that spirit, I thought I’d take a look back at some of the trip’s most memorable moments.
Business of Education in Brazil: Trip Highlights
10. Fresh fruit everywhere! With access to amazingly fresh fruit/fruit smoothies at breakfast, lunch, dinner, on the beach, and at every street corner in Rio, vitamin c intake has just not been the same since leaving Brazil.
9. Private meeting at the Ministry of Education in Brazil. After a week of meeting with organizations working to affect change at a policy level, our group had the opportunity to sit down with the actual policy-makers themselves in Brazil’s capital city of Brasilia.
8. Beach time in beautiful Florianopolis and Rio de Janeiro. When we weren’t visiting with some of the most influential educational leaders in Brazil, our group was soaking up the sun and enjoying the incredible vistas that Brazil, with all of its natural beauty, has to offer. All I can say is that Copacabana and Ipanema really do live up to the hype and I can’t wait to get back!
7. Virtual roller-coaster ride at Senai! Just one more in a sea of innovative technologies that Senai, Brazil’s leader in educational training, is developing for the marketplace. Also amazing: a look inside the completely realistic simulation room used for training oil platform managers.
6. Brazilian BBQ. Before I went to Brazil, my friend gave me a recommendation for a restaurant in Sao Paulo. He said he had dreams about it. Now I know why.
5. MIT Sloan sponsored education conference in Sao Paulo. Because they didn’t have enough on their plate, in addition to scheduling all of our company visits, our incredible trip organizers also put on a mini-conference. Bringing in six guest speakers and over 200 audience members (including Sloan alumni and admitted students) the event featured discussion on innovations in education and how these innovations could be applied in Brazil. With all these educational groups in one place, it was wonderful to see the role that our study tour was playing to help unite efforts and share best-practices.
4. Visits to Max school and the Lumiar Institute. Pioneers in alternative approaches to education, these two schools impressed me both with the commitment of their administrators and the energy within their school halls. It will be exciting to see how these schools progress.
3. Technology demonstrations at Positivo. Want to see what it looks like to bring the inner-child out of 20 MBA students? Set them loose in the technology labs of Positivo. We played with their learning blocks, we made an augmented reality story with farm animals, and we played games with our own virtual avatars. It was amazing: no wonder they have been able to impact so many children.
2. City of God. Perhaps the most compelling visit on our trip, our visit to Cidade de Deus left us with hope and inspiration. Two years ago we could have never visited the favela. The inspiration behind the movie “City of God”, it was overrun with drugs, violence, and lack of opportunity. Now, however, the favela has been able to turn itself around and with the help of community leaders like Maria do Socorro is empowering its youth and adult members alike, bringing in community partners and establishing community spaces to expand access to education. Just a few days before our visit, President Obama had visited the favela – it is great to see such a wonderful success story being recognized by our President in this way.
1. My fellow study tour members! I love you all. We came, we saw, we learned, we went hard, we conquered. A special shout out to our incredible trip organizers, amazing faculty and staff members, and, of course, Kesha.
Thank you MIT Sloan for this amazing opportunity.