2015 OPENING KEYNOTE: Meriem EL HILALI / Catherine Cartier
Channel: The Global Education Conference Network
Date: 2015-11-17

Meriem EL HILALI / Catherine Cartier
Vice Consul with the Council of Europe / Student at Pearson College UWC
YES and YES Abroad

Meriem EL HILALI is a 2005 alumna of the U.S. Department of State funded Kennedy-Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) program, through which she studied for one academic year of high school in the United States. Originally from Morocco, she credits the YES program with leading her to a career in Diplomacy and International Affairs. In 2011, she began working for the Moroccan Foreign Ministry, and in September 2015, she was appointed Vice Consul in charge of cooperation with the Council of Europe. She currently resided in Strasbourg, France.

Catherine Cartier is an alumna of the U.S. Department of State funded Kennedy Lugar Youth Exchange and Study Abroad program, through which she spent an academic year in Rabat, Morocco. During this year, she undertook ethnographic research about public baths, called hammams. She is currently a student at Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific in British Columbia. While at Pearson, she researched feminist groups in Morocco and their role in recent legal reforms. In the future, she hopes to develop international education programs bringing together young people from the United States and North Africa.
http://yesprograms.org

Cross-Cultural Perspectives on Exchange
How does study abroad transform lives and create connections around the world? Just ask Meriem and Catherine, alumni of the U.S. Department of State funded YES and YES Abroad programs. Through their exchanges, they have each spent one academic year in the other's home country. In their session, they will discuss the experiences they had while studying abroad, what they learned from living in another country, and how they have utilized those lessons since returning to their home countries. See exchange from two perspectives, and witness global competence in action as these two young people collaborate to share their countries and experiences. This is a keynote presentation from the 2015 free, online Global Education Conference. Find out more at http://globaleducationconference.com