SPA+Introductions

=Saint Paul Academy and Summit School= in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States of America


 * The members from Saint Paul Academy:**

Greetings from Minnesota! I am **Sushmita Hodges** the teacher from SPA whose Honors World connections seminar class is collaborating with ASB on the Global Challenge 20/20. I have been extremely pleased with the level of enthusiasm and interest that the project has generated thus far. I teach primarily sophomores who at SPA take the required World History class from 1500-2000. This year I am teaching a sum total of 53 sophomores. My senior elective is a full year class and this year we are focusing on the 19th, 20th century and contemporary world. Like your teacher I am also ethnically Indian (Bengali) but married to a Minnesotan who I met in graduate school in Indiana. We have two daughters ages 12 and 18. Our 7th grader is at SPA and our oldest graduated last year from SPA and is currently attending Wesleyan University Connecticut. My research and teaching interests are gender studies, colonial and post-colonial history with an emphasis on identity politics. For fun I like to cook and entertain when I have time. My favorite books are Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies and the Namesake. I have seen the Namesake movie 4 times. I think Mira Nair is an amazing director.

My name is **Lexi** Nisita. My favorite classes are History, English, French, and Journalism. Some other things I like are dinosaurs, cats, and rubber stamps. My favorite animal is the giraffe. My dad is Italian and my mom is American. We eat a lot of Italian and Asian food in my house. I like to listen to music—my favorite artists are Devendra Banhart, Bright Eyes, The Shins, and Roberto Murolo. I love to watch The Office on TV every Thursday. My favorite book is Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, and I also really like the Harry Potter series. I like lots of other things, too, such as going down waterslides. I have gone to SPA since I was in kindergarten and I am on our school newspaper, The Rubicon.

Hi- I’m **Arista**. I’m 17 and have lived in Minnesota all my life, but enjoy traveling around the world. My favorite thus visited place is New Zealand (which I visited just after President Bush declared the War on Iraq—it was a refreshingly neutral place to be!) I’m excited to continue studying Spanish this year at a local university near SPA. I’m hoping to be fluent and able to live in a Spanish speaking country for as many years of my life as I can. My favorite class is definitely World History and I’m enjoying exploring world issues from a myriad of perspectives instead of only a Western perspective. I also love spending time with my horse, Theo. He’s a six year old quarter horse and I study natural horsemanship with him.

Greetings all, Mumbai! My name is **Parker** Cook and I will be 18 on the 28th of September. I have lived in the Twin Cities my whole life, but look forward to leaving for University. I have traveled extensively, mostly in Europe, but I really want to travel to the Middle East, Africa and India. I have lived, as a child, in Austria for a little while, and still speak German today. As for academic interests, I am profoundly interested in Islam, its history, and the current situation of the Middle East and Africa today. I have also been learning Arabic for two years now and am trying to practice it the best I can. I love to read, and some of my favorites are: Zanzibar Chest by Aiden Hartley, The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz, the Book of Saladin by Tariq Ali, Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. My hobbies include reading, rowing on the Mississippi, fencing, hanging out with friends, playing Music and listening to music (I love Music, especially Jazz and world music) and learning. I really look forward to working with you all on this project; it’s going to be a lot of fun!

Hi my name is **Zachary** Sethna and I am almost 18 years old. At school my favorite subjects are math and science. During the three years I have been at SPA, I have participated in and done quite well in various math and science competitions. This year I will be the captain for many of those academic teams. I also love to read, especially fantasy and science fiction novels. Currently my favorite book is Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson. I look forward to working with you in our Global Challenge 20/20 project.

Hey!! My name is **Mondraya** and I'm 18 years old. This is my last year in high school and I'm really excited to graduate and go to college. My favorite subjects are science and math, especially Chemistry. I want to major in either Chemistry or Pre-Pharmacy. I love playing sports. I play volleyball, softball and basketball. I'm captain of the first two. I love music, any kind of music and I really like dancing and having fun. My favorite movies are the Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings and Super Bad. My favorite books are also the Harry Potter series, House of the Scorpion and Before Night Falls. I like hanging out with my friends and just having lots of fun. I am really looking forward to working on Challenge 20/20 with all of you and I think education for all is a really important issue. So Hi!

Hi! I am **Nick Bancks** and I am the upper school librarian for SPA. I’m probably not what you expect when you think of the title “librarian”. I really enjoy my job though, which I see as helping people access information and become better learners, while learning much in the process myself. I enjoy hunting and fishing, especially fly-fishing, and I try to travel to the western United States at least once a year for an extended fishing trip every summer. I also really enjoy playing and watching sports. I recently finished reading a book about Verdun and WW I; the title was The Price of Glory and it was by Alistair Horne. He also writes about the French war against Algerian nationals during the 1950s and 60s, which some analysts referred back to in trying to draw analogies with the insurgency in Iraq. I lived just outside of NYC for the past four years, but recently moved back Minnesota, from where I am originally. Right now I've listening to Sigur Ros, a music group from Iceland. So far I have been really impressed with the depth and insights of this group’s conversation. Keep up the good work!