SUSI - what did I learn? How was the experience?

SUSI for Secondary School Educators 2018

Congratulations, you have been selected! It was the happiest moment in my life after getting married and giving birth to my four lovely children. I was selected by the Finnish Fulbright Foundation and the U.S Department of State to participate in the Study of the U.S Institutes (=SUSI) for Secondary School Educators for five weeks in summer 2018. SUSI experience turned out to be, as life changing experience as those big moments in my life. It brought me lots of knowledge, amazing experiences and dear friends - an international family.

SUSI for Secondary Educators 2018 program was coordinated by the University of Montana. The 60 participants were in three different States: Montana (Missoula), California (Cico) and Massachusetts (Amherst). My host institute was the Institute of Training and Development (ITD) in Amherst. We were the most multi-cultural, global group of teachers they ever have had. We had participants from all over the world from Australia to Mongolia, from Ecuador to Sambia.   

We studied at the Amherst College American history, civics, politics and culture for 3,5 weeks. We had lectures, discussed, read hundreds of pages of readings and studied for our individual projects. SUSI was very intensive, intellectually demanding program. During the five weeks program, we attended several excursions in Boston, New York, Salt Lake City and surroundings, Las Vegas and Washington D.C. We met ordinary Americans in the host-families, in the variety of social occasions and in the streets.

SUSI-2018 changed my life, I have an international family, friends and close team of devoted colleagues to work with. I never thought of getting a new family. I was living together in the ITD-House with 10 of my teacher colleagues, other 10 living nearby. We, 20 teachers, shared this unique experience together. We were attending the lectures, doing our project works, reading the readings and sharing it all. We were drinking coffee or tea, singing, riding a bicycle, sharing our knowledge... We laughed, had fun and got to know each other. We cried together, of being so unbelievably happy. We cried, of being so tired and homesick. In the end, we were grateful for being the selected ones to be part of this special program. 

The positive attitude, friendliness, smiles, passion of the Americans amazed me. The American dream is living your life at full speed: you eat fast, you walk fast, you talk fast, you think fast, you work fast. Life is very competitive, it has always been. As a European it was easy to find a lot of similarities, familiar things – I had the feeling, I was walking in the movie scene, when spending time in New York, Washington D.C, Las Vegas or in the deserted areas of Nevada. I have seen this!

I saw poverty, I saw homeless people, I smelled Marihuana in the streets, I saw accidents, young men without any hope in life in the streets, garbage and rats on the streets, empty malls, closed factories, closed cities – the backyards of the U.S showed us huge problems. On the other hand, the voluntary work of ordinary Americans impressed us. They devoted to work for others. They were passionate to help, share their experience, time and wealth. The U.S is a unique country, of 50 States in one country. It is multi-cultural, multi-dimensional, multi-lingual, wealthy and poor, discussing, arguing and compromising. With this experience we will be able to show our students, our countries the multi-dimensional side of the U.S. It is building bridges through connections.    

Päivi Parkkonen

Fulbright Finland

Study of the U.S Institutes for Secondary School Educators program summer 2018

Valkealan lukio

paivi.parkkonen@edukouvola.fi