Hello! My name is Tessa Kilcourse I am a first-year International Educational Development Program (IEDP) student at Penn GSE. In conjunction with our “a day in the life” as an IEDP’er I will be blogging about what I tend to do as a graduate student at UPenn during the COVID-19 era. As many have said before me online graduate school during COVID has been a … Continue reading Tessa Kilcourse: Day in the Life as an IEDPer
Hi everyone! Spring is usually a hectic semester for IEDPers and I am not the exception. This semester has been super busy due to the fact that I am taking four courses (one of which is our capstone class) and I am working/volunteering around twenty hours a week. These commitments have limited the time I have to write my own blog posts, but I am happy … Continue reading Living in University City
Just a couple of months ago I made the move from the four walls of my parent’s home in Pune, India, to being within the four walls of the unit I share with my classmates in Philadelphia, PA. Why I chose to move countries this Spring despite another virtual semester still perplexes my parents. But as some of you reading this would understand, pandemic or not, I’d rather be as close … Continue reading Across the Atlantic: Tips from my move
Hi! My name is Rachel Phipps and I am a first-year International Educational Development Program (IEDP) student here at Penn GSE. Today I’ll be blogging about “a day in the life” as an IEDP’er. I wouldn’t trade my experience as an IEDP student for anything. I’m learning so much and my world is largely expanding in ways it wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. First, … Continue reading Rachel Phipps: Day in the Life as an IEDPer
Hi all. For the blog post for this week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Wamweni. Last semester, Wamweni and I spent many many hours on Zoom working on our group technical proposals, so it was great to be able to learn about her experiences outside of class. Below are the main highlights of our conversation: Leslie: Can you tell us a little a bit … Continue reading Wamweni’s Words of Wisdom
Kako is in her last semester of the IEDP. She is currently living in Fukui, Japan. The time difference between Fukui and Philadelphia meant that I had to wake up really early (for a Sunday) and she had to stay up late for us to be able to have this conversation. However, we had a great time chatting and I am happy to share the … Continue reading Kako’s Knowledgeable Decisions
Hi everyone! It’s been a while since the last post. At the end of last year, I decided to stick with my plan to move to Philly for the spring semester even though classes are still virtual, so…I am writing this post from my new studio apartment, located less than a mile from the Penn campus! So far, I love Philly, even though it is … Continue reading New semester, new city
Hi everyone! For today’s blog post, I had the opportunity to ask Amy Liang a couple of questions about her journey to the IEDP. Amy is the Graduate Assistant in charge of the IEDP’s Instagram (follow it!) and the monthly newsletter. Leslie: Can you tell me a little bit about your background? Amy: I’m a born and raised New York City native, and I went … Continue reading Amy’s Adventures: A Community Health Volunteer’s Journey into Ed
“If we are facing in the right direction, all we need to do is keep walking.” Buddhist Proverb México I was born and raised in Mérida, Yucatán. I finished high school and started studying business administration in my hometown. In my second year of studies, as I went along with a “normal life” in my social context, I realized that I was facing the wrong … Continue reading Ricardo’s Road to Penn
My background My path to IEDP was a bit unconventional. For one thing, my undergraduate degree was in classical music. For another, I received that degree twenty years ago. It was a winding road that brought me here, but I couldn’t be happier with my decision. For the past fifteen years I’ve worked in standardized test prep, both as a teacher and teacher trainer. I … Continue reading A long and winding road
The International Educational Development Program 