Course Participants

Mindanao Course Participants

Margaret (Maggie) Coleman Tylie McMahon Scott Henderson
Zarina Kaliaskarova Anoopjot (Anoop) Kaur Emma Milotz
Maritza Munzon Myshel Prasad Miranda Salinas
Evyn Simpson Corinne Smith Lauren Turich

 

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMargaret Coleman

Hello! My name is Margaret Coleman, but I often go by Maggie. As an MA student in the International Policy Studies program at MIIS, I’m also working toward the Conflict Resolution Certificate, which is part of what drew me to the school, and is how I found out about this incredible opportunity in Mindanao. It will be the first time that I will be traveling anywhere in Asia, as my normal area of focus is Latin America, and I have not a word of Tagalog under my belt but I’m nonetheless thrilled to participate.

A little about myself: I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and I have some experience traveling on my own, but I haven’t traveled with a group like this before. I graduated with my BA in International Relations with a focus in Diplomacy from the University of Delaware in 2012, and after that I lived and taught English in Valladolid, Spain and then in Santiago, Chile. In both of these cities I had the wonderful experience of connecting with all sorts of people, living a life that was very distinct from the one in which I grew up, and encountering the nuances of cultures and conflicts that weren’t my own but that very much became a part of my daily life.

Now that I am back in school, I’m taking advantage of the time to explore what it actually means to work in the field of Conflict Resolution. As a student of International Relations, the theory of Peacebuilding comes up pretty frequently, but I still have very little experience with what the practice actually looks like on the ground. I’m hoping that this experience will shed some light on just how the process of Peacebuilding has been implemented and has evolved in the specific case of Mindanao, not to mention, hopefully learn a little more about myself and what my role can be in the field.

 

ScottScott Henderson

My name is Scott Henderson and I am a Global Studies Major at CSUMB. Having received my A.A degree from San Jose City College, I then transferred to Santa Clara University where I had planned to finish my education in international studies. However, life takes fantastic turns. My wife and I moved to Monterey where I had intended to commute to SCU until I found out about CSUMB. Intrigued at the possibility of lessened commute time, 90 minutes to SCU and 3 minutes to CSUMB, leading to more time for academics, I met with several professors and was convinced that CSUMB was the place for me. I am in my second semester at the school and I am now the President of the Honor Society of International Relations called Sigma Iota Rho. I recently, Dec 2014, completed advanced facilitation training with the Soliya Foundation and will begin facilitating next semester. Also, I have been a defensive football coach at San Jose City College since 2006, where I specialize in coaching the outside linebackers.

As citizens of the world, it appears that the better individuals can communicate with one another, the higher the chances for a peaceful resolution to any potential conflict. That is the reason I am in the field of Global Studies. I would like to learn how to transform conflict into productive dialogue that finds solutions that contribute to the improvement of the affected communities.   A Professor at CSUMB recommended the Peacekeeping in Mindanao course to me as something that I might be interested in and she was right. I am intrigued at the prospect of collecting data concerning the disarmament of the forces within the area of the conflict zone and how the former fighters will integrate back into society in a peaceful manner. I look forward to this challenge!

ZarinaZarina Kaliaskarova

My name is Zarina Kaliaskarova and I am from the beautiful country of Kazakhstan. It is my first year as a student at Monterey Institute of International Studies on a “Bolashak” Presidential scholarship from the Government of Kazakhstan. I am currently working on my Master’s degree in International Policy Studies (IPS), Human Security and Development track. I graduated from the State University named after Shokan Ualikhanov, where I acquired my BA in foreign languages (English and German). After graduation I obtained a job in Astana, the capital city, working for the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Kazakhstan. I received my MA in Public Administration at the Academy of Public Administration under the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan. My devotion to serving people and my interest in international affairs, lead me to apply for a masters at MIIS.

I am currently working on my Conflict Resolution (CR) certificate and feel this trip will complement my understanding of CR studies even further. I am very interested in applying the theories I have learned in my CR course to the peace zone in Mindanao Philippines. This course will provide me with the experience of performing field research and a better understanding of the nature of the conflict in Mindanao. I look forward to analyzing the data that will be collected during our academic trip, and share this valuable information with the rest of the world.

 

AnoopAnoopjot Kaur

My name is Anoop Kaur and I am a student at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, I am currently pursuing my masters in International Policy Studies with a focus in Human Security and Development. I was born in India and immigrated to Southern California with my family in the year 2000 and lived in Southern California until I moved away to pursue my undergrad. I have traveled back to India a total of four occasions, the longest being six months, all of these trips have been very important for me in realizing how I see myself when I am in India and when I am here in United States.

I completed my undergrad in International Studies at the University of California Davis and I was selected to participate in a research project in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Various government parties commissioned the project, and the purpose was to understand the extent of the depravities, racism, and backlash that the Uruguayan workers faced in Argentina. I am not sure if this project was an achievement for me but rather it was an amazing learning experience that I will never forget. The report that was created at the end did not include many of the extreme cases that we had interviewed. I was compelled by this project to join Prof. Iyer’s team to Mindanao because I learned how important it is to get the information from the people facing difficult situations rather than a report that will not include all facets of the issue. I hope to understand to understand the changes in migration patterns that have occurred since the peace-building process began in Mindanao.

 

RylieTylie McMahon

Hello! My name is Tylie McMahon, but I usually go by Tylie. I’m a current MIIS student pursuing a dual degree in International Education Management (IEM) and TESOL. I will be finishing my TESOL degree in May 2015 and then my IEM degree after completing my off-campus practicum in December 2015.

Growing up in Seattle I began living abroad relatively early, moving to Spain at 16. I never thought I would get into the education field after graduating from the University of St. Andrews with a dual degree in International Relations and Spanish, but after moving to Uruguay I was hired as a primary school teacher and absolutely fell in love with the job. I view myself as just beginning my professional career, so it’s hard to list off any professional crowning achievements (yet). I’ve lived in a handful of countries, Spain, Scotland, Uruguay and Peru and I’ve got international education to thank for it. I see my time at MIIS as a way to pursue real meaning in my future career.

After living in so many different places, I began to see that the people that are able to participate in international education opportunities share common traits. They often (but, of course, not always) have had access to high level academic English instruction and the economic support of their family or community so as to to live and study abroad or within a very supportive local institution. I’m driven by the desire to open up international education to underserved populations in developing countries that might not necessarily see international education as a real opportunity. I’d like to break these constraints that might limit international education to an elite few. In my mind, IEM and TESOL is a perfect combination of practical professional and academic skills to make this dream possible. That being said, after graduation – who knows where I might end up?!

I plan on taking this course to diversify my skill set. My degree program has a pretty rigid flow of courses and I see my time at graduate school as an opportunity to be exposed to a range of skill sets and knowledge. I have absolutely no formative experience with conflict resolution, and yet I can see that education is an integral component of peace-building. I am excited to see how education and language education settings in Mindanao interacts with the peace building efforts of the region. I’m an open book and excited to take in this new experience!

 

emmaEmma Milotz

Hello, my name is Emma Milotz. I am a junior at CSUMB and I am fulfilling my undergrad in Global Studies. I am very grateful to be a part of this team going to Mindanao.  I grew up in Paso Robles, CA and since high school I have changed directions many times. Originally I was set on becoming a nutritionist, and out of high school that’s what made sense to me.  Everyone around me seemed to have a direction and knew exactly what they were going to do with their lives.  I was trying to convince myself.  So rather than following through with nutrition I decided to be okay with the fact that I didn’t know and explore other options.  Working in Hospitality allowed me flexibility to move from Chico to San Luis Obispo to Mammoth for a winter and then Maui for a year.  I came back to California and ​worked as an event coordinator and managed a restaurant at a golf course for a few years. During that time I took every chance I could to travel somewhere new. I traveled through Europe in 2009 and in 2012 explored Southeast Asia.  I can’t get enough of that indescribable feeling that comes with stepping foot in a place for the first time.

In 2013 I decided to move to Monterey; once I was here, going back to school was a top priority.  I had been looking into the Global Studies program at CSUMB and I was convinced it was for me.  I must say being out of school a few years and returning was quite the awakening.  With that being said a new awareness of the world started to open up.

When the Opportunity of Mindanao was extended to CSUMB students I was hesitant to apply just because I haven’t had experience in peace-building or conflict resolution but knew given the chance I would be up for the challenge. Although I have traveled abroad my experiences were based on adventure, sightseeing and leisure.  My goal in Mindanao is to understand the process of peace-building and the process the communities go through to get to a place of peace.  Once we return home I hope to share our experiences with a wide of range people and can only hope this research is just the beginning.  I hope to be a part of other research groups in the future.

 

MaritzaMaritza Munzon

Hello! My Name is Maritza Munzón. I am a graduate student at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS) who is pursuing a Masters in Public Administration and M.A. in International Education Management. This is my Second year at MIIS and I hope to complete my program in December 2015.
I am a bicultural California native. I was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley and spent almost a decade in San Francisco before pursuing a graduate degree in Monterey. Though I was raised in California, I am also the daughter of Mexican immigrants and spent many summers and Christmases’ in Mexico as a Child. My love for travel started with those family trips to Mexico, usually we traveled by car and though every trip started in Los Angeles and ended up in Mexico City, what we saw along the way and who we encountered changed every time. Realizing how different Mexico is from region to another sparked my curiosity to explore and learn from other cultures.

In elementary school I would always stop to stare at a mural with the world map on it, I didn’t know it them but that was the moment when I began to see myself as a global citizen. I didn’t know why or how, but I knew I wanted to visit the country that looked like a boot… fast forward to Dec 31st 2006 and I am awaiting the New Year in a plaza in Rome, a flash of that mural crossed my mind. Before college I never truly thought travel was possible, getting into college seems like a millstone in itself, being a first generation college student. I learned about study abroad during my orientation at San Francisco State University, eventually I applied and ended up completing a large portion of my Spanish degree in Spain at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. During my year in Spain I visited a total of 12 countries, Italy being one of them. I returned to my home institution with the goal of pursuing an international career and decided to add International Relations as a second major. I decided to study at MIIS, because of their international focus. After three semesters of study I am thinking about how to link movements like; multicultural education, peace education, human rights education, and global service learning though a career in International Education.

The Mindanao trip appealed to my love of travel and my focus on International Education. I decided to apply because I would like to develop study abroad programs myself someday, and what better way to learn about the different study abroad options than to experience them for myself. During my time at MIIS I have participated in the immersion programs in Peru, Cuba, and Kenya; with each trip I have been taking note of what works and what doesn’t when taking students abroad in hopes that it will help guide how I develop programs in the future. Aside from experiencing different study abroad program styles, my interest in education also includes looking at education systems from around the world. This trip would be a unique opportunity for me to look at education through the lens of peace building, I am particularly interested in how access to education is affected in places that have had armed conflict.
Overall I am very passionate about travel; but good food, dancing and the World Cup are also high on my list. I feel that everyone should get out of their comfort zone every once in a while and experience life as other do, whether at home or abroad, one can learn a lot by stepping in someone else’s shoes.

 

MyshelMyshel Prasad

My name is Myshel Prasad. I have worked for many years as a nonprofit Development Director and Development and Program Consultant serving causes as diverse as public media, health services for the underserved, environmental justice in urban Los Angeles, and educational opportunities for foster youth. I earned my BA from New York University and an MFA from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University. In 2007, I received the Kathyn Wasserman Davis Scholarship for Peace award and began studying Arabic at Middlebury College in Vermont. My conflict studies began the following year with Global Majority’s “Promoting Peace Through Dialogue” conference at the United Nations University in Amman, and a grassroots educational tour of Israel and the West Bank lead by the late Scott Kennedy, former Mayor of Santa Cruz, CA and the founder of the Resource Center for Nonviolence. I am currently completing an MA in International Policy Studies at MIIS.

In my view, storytelling is a critical part of peacebuilding, even as it is a critical part of making war. We tell ourselves stories, mythical, historical, political or religious, to locate ourselves, sometimes to empower or liberate ourselves, sometimes to dis-empower and oppress others; the more we believe we must be the authors of a monolithic and dominant and narrative is order to be securely located, the more likely it is that the two motives will be irrevocably linked. But tribalism and mobilizing narratives of exclusive identities (and the violence contained and released by them) in the face of fear, deprivation, persecution, or trauma is unsurprising. What is remarkable to me is the depth and persistence of the human instinct for cooperation and capacity for compassion, the drive not to define but to transcend narrative boundaries of single identities and destinies, to shake the self by the admission of the other, even at great personal cost, in the most challenging of contexts.

So I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to meet the peacebuilders of Mindanao, and to learn their stories. To learn a story, especially a true story, is not a simple- and may even be described as a sacred- thing, and is almost never told in one telling; our time in Mindanao is short, but I look forward to listening, and beginning to learn in the retelling.

 

EvynEvyn Simpson

My name is Evyn Simpson and I am a first year graduate student at Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS), pursuing a Masters in International Policy in the Human Security and Development track, focusing in Conflict Resolution. I am originally from Redding, California and I completed my BA at the University of California at Santa Barbara where I studied Spanish and Political Science, with an emphasis in International Relations.
I spent two years in the Middle East in Jordan, where I was a Peace Corps Volunteer. I lived in a small city in central Jordan called Karak, where I was welcomed into the community that I grew to love. I had the opportunity to work on a number of projects at a community development center such as fitness, girls’ empowerment, and career development.

Traveling has long been a passion of mine, and I am fortunate to have had the option to leave California for both work and play. I very much enjoy living on the Central Coast of California for its beaches, weather, hikes, and the vista points it has to offer.

I decided to take the Challenges to Peacebuilding course in Mindanao because I am fascinated by the role that religion plays in conflict as well as the sustainability of the established peace zones in the region. I am also enthused to work under the guidance of Dr. Iyer and apply some of the skills and concepts I have been exposed to in the Conflict Resolution course. I am also using this opportunity to explore what it is like to work in the Conflict Resolution field.
I am thrilled about this chance to conduct research in The Philippines. It is a region that I never thought I would visit, and I welcome the opportunity for storytelling, sharing meals, and enjoying the tropical heat!

 

MirandaMiranda Salinas

Greetings! My name is Miranda Salinas. I am proud to say I am one week shy of surviving my first semester at MIIS in the International Policy Studies program. I recently returned to school after working for a local nonprofit in Monterey serving mentally ill homeless adults. Like many things in life, this was not a planned career path; I meandered into it, and slowly transitioned from. It was incredibly challenging work, however the connections I had made with folks, along with the opportunities for self-development, were invaluable. I have absolutely no regrets. After this 5-year detour, I pulled my ‘mental emergency-break’ and returned to school. I am not the pencil pushing type; I enjoy being out in the field, problem solving and working closely with individuals on projects.

I hail from a small agrarian town named Hollister; no relation to the clothing brand. I grew up in an oxymoronic Chicano family, consisting of two parents, a fierce grandmother and three siblings. Country life as you can imagine was uneventful, while at other times physically grueling. Naturally I left as soon as I turned 18. Soon after travel became a passion, well to be honest an obsession. I worked while I attended college and also found creative ways to finance my various travels. I spent 2 ½ years living and working in the Peoples Republic of China, the first two years in Beijing and the remaining half in Lhasa Tibet. This was one of the most amazing and adventurous periods of my life; again a detour, but one so worth it.

I decided to apply for the Mindanao January term course while taking the Intro to Conflict Resolution at MIIS. For months our class examined theories, which explained root sources of conflict, its stages of development, various methods of containment, resolution and so much more. There were several discussions about peace zones, which peaked my interest. When I was informed there would be an academic opportunity to visit a peace-zone, I could hardly sit still in my classroom chair and immediately applied. I am excited to have the privilege of exploring how this zone was established, that various efforts it stakes to sustain it and so much more.

corinneCorinne Smith

My name is Corinne Smith, and I was born and raised in the Bay Area in Oakland, CA. I am in my second year at MIIS studying International Policy Studies, in the Human Security and Development track focusing on environmental justice, gender equity, and public health policy within sustainable development. I attended the University of Miami with majors in International Studies, Psychology, and Art. After completing undergrad in 2012, I worked in the Bay Area in environmental health, advocating for public awareness and protection from toxic chemicals.

My interest in Southeast Asia was ignited when I was fourteen and traveled to Vietnam with my aunt and her family. She, (my father’s sister-in-law) fled the Vietnam War with her family when she was thirteen, escaping on a fishing boat, protected by her father’s status as a Vietnamese Army Colonel. They arrived in Los Angeles and were later repatriated to the small, sleepy farm town of Fresno, in California’s central valley, where she met my uncle and they married ten years later. Her return trip in 2004 was the first time she had seen her homeland in over 30 years. We spent three weeks touring the countryside by van, visiting small coastal cities where her cousins had relocated and grown up to run restaurants, shoe shops and small export businesses. My whole life I have grown up in the glow of her Vietnamese heritage and culture, as well as of the strong sense of community by Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Filipinos in Oakland.

I am very excited to have the opportunity to take part in this research project in the Philippines. The land and culture have fascinated me for a long time, even more so while at MIIS knowing two Peace Corps Volunteers to the Philippines, and then after Typhoon Haiyan last year. For this immersive learning experience, I am excited to have the opportunity to study under Dr. Iyer in the field, as well as with such a dynamic and multidisciplinary research team. I am interested in investigating environmental justice aspects of Mindanao that have exacerbated, or been sidelined by the ongoing conflict. I am also interested in the process of judicial reform in peace building, and the role of collective memory and narrative in reconciliation and reconstruction. I am really looking forward to doing some filming, learning new recipes, and hopefully seeing some mixed martial arts!

 

laurenLauren Turich

My name is Lauren Turich and I am a senior and California State University, Monterey Bay. My program of study is Global Studies, with my concentration being in International Development and Humanitarian Action. Although I am originally from Southern California, I have had the opportunity to live in Arizona and most currently on the beautiful Central Coast of California.

While persistently working towards my first degree, I have also had the opportunity to work as an EMT and Paramedic for nearly seven years. First in Santa Barbara and now in Santa Cruz County, I have developed a passion for medicine that has reaffirmed my desire to become a Physician. After I obtain my BA, I look forward to starting a MPH program; ultimately, I plan on attending medical school.  I look forward to being able to continue to work in various clinics providing healthcare to communities that wouldn’t otherwise have access to it. While working as a Paramedic, I have met Physicians and Paramedics that have inspired and provided me the opportunity to volunteer abroad. Over the last three years, I have traveled to Romania, Honduras and Peru to work in impromptu and preexisting medical clinics.

I am taking this course because it will allow me to truly understand a post-conflict county and their ability to not only reconstruct their government, but their healthcare system. I expect to be able to complete this course understanding the healthcare needs of the community and how, specifically, they address the healthcare needs of women.