I have been lucky enough to work with Project Explorer in Montreal, Zambia and London. I first came in contact with the amazing Jenny Buccos and Project Explorer in high school when I wrote a piece for Jenny's incredible Good Global Citizen Campaign. It was then that I was fortunate enough to learn about such an incredible organization. I watched many of their videos and fell in love with their work. A few years later I was fortunate enough to become a part of the Project Explorer team. My first experience in Montreal was life changing. I saw first hand just how hard these women work to create the most amazing content for children with such limited funds. One of the things that amazes me the most is the tireless effort Project Explorer puts into making very complicated subject matter accessible for children in every single video. It is so wonderful to see the impact that Project Explorer has all ver the world. In Zambia, I remember just how excited the local people were to interact with us and share their culture. Project Explorer is truly breaking boundaries and creating a global community. I am so proud to work along side such strong, intelligent, dedicated, and talented women. I am the luckiest person to be able to continue to travel with them. Like millions of children all over the planet, my eyes have been opened to a world beyond my backyard. Project Explorer has changed millions of lives including my own.
Project Explorer is an amazing organization led by an amazing woman. It's extremely effective at overcoming the high costs of global citizenship. It creates a platform for young people to access the world. Check it out.
I am the Library teacher at an inner New York City elementary school. Jenny and crew have been bringing the world cultures to our Bronx school for the past 5 years. They not only bring videos but clothing, food and colorful displays that allow the kids to fully immerse themselves into various cultures and geographical environments. Questions, comments and magical happiness fill each child in the library during the presentations. My school year begins with,"When will Project Explorer be visiting us and where will we be going?" The students also enrich their studies with visits to Project Explorer on our library computers. Can't say enough good things about Project Explorer.....I have been sharing the website with Principals and teacher friends since my first encounter with Jenny!!!!
Previous Stories
When meeting Jenny Buccos over 5 years ago at a Library Connections workshop, I knew immediately she had a wealth of knowledge to share with todays students. I am the Librarian at an inner city Bronx school with a minority population of low income families. Jenny and her crew have visited us every year and with each visit the kids get so excited to find out where they will be travelling next. The children are absolutley enthralled with the presentations and cant get enough questions answered by the crew. They log onto the computers in the Library during the school year to check out all the knew information available. This program has enriched my Library classes and can truly be an asset to any teachers lesson plans.
claire hofer
I worked with the ProjectExplorer team in Mauritius and it was incredible to see the team's passion and commitment to their work. The videos produced seamlessly blend stories of culture, language, nature, cuisine and geography to ensure an inspiring educational series for children.
I met Jenny and the Project Explorer crew in 2011 when they went to do educational videos in Belize. I grew fond of the organization after learning about their mission and what they do for school children from all over the world.
As a child I would often take for granted the simple luxuries that I had at home but after immersing myself in travel I was able to see how different things were outside of surroundings and gained a completely different understanding of life - this is exactly what Project Explorer does via it's lesson plans and that is exactly why I wholeheartedly support them.
Project Explorer is the tool that brings this worlds many people, cultures, and practices into the lives of those who can't be there themselves. The idea that one can travel virtually through countries and learn about what is significant within them is crucial to us now, as well as to our next generation. Jenny Buccos has created a global movement that should be shared in every home and classroom.
I can't tell you how much ProjectExplorer.org changes lives - but I CAN tell you how it has changed our lives. We first published the amazing resources of ProjectExplorer on our website for global educators. Pretty soon, I was getting emails from educators that thanked me for sharing such incredible resources for international education. Our daughter wanted to learn more about the world when she was about 4 (like her mama!) and I knew the right place for her to go. She was entranced by the dresses in Quinceañera, loved learning about silkworms in Thailand, and followed artists from all around the world. I've seen it in classrooms, and seen it in my own child - ProjectExplorer opens up the world - for FREE. Incredible. I tell everyone I know about how great they are!
Whether you're still a student or not, Project Explorer is a brilliant way to learn more about the world. Not everyone has the funds to travel to the far corners of the earth so companies like Project Explorer are imperative in educating us on foreign cultures and helping to make the world seems smaller. We are all effectively the same. And can learn an incredible amount about the wonders of humanity by having the chance to view the history, culture, landscape and everyday experiences of peoples far away from where we are.
On a person note, I had an amazing time working with Project Explorer and Jenny Buccos, PE's creator, director and lead producer. She is so passionate about the work that she does and it translates through the videos. Her energy is contagious and she makes you work harder and raise your own personal standards when it comes to the work you do.
I would highly recommend Project Explorer to anyone with a hunger for knowledge and experience in the nonprofit field and/or the beauty of the world.
Any chance to experience what they do is a gift.
Project Explorer is an incredible research & educational tool for teachers, parents, students and anyone in the world.
Educational, inspiring, inquisitive... there are so many ways to describe the incredible efforts of everyone involved in Project Explorer. As educators awaken to the possibilities of the global classroom, a resource like Project Explorer is ideal. Learning about different countries and cultures is so critical to creating empathy and understanding in a classroom setting. The videos and text provided on the website are useful when asking students to consider different traditions, and provide a means by which to explore context. By learning about the lives and experiences of individuals in a variety of countries, students are pushed to set aside previously-conceived notions or assumed stereotypes. Project Explorer provides a platform through which students can investigate new ideas without awkwardness, preparing them (and encouraging them) to discover their world as global citizens.
I am a parent who invited the staff of Project Explorer to speak at my son's school. It was the highlight of the kids' year! Project Explorer worked with the teachers to tailor the talks to lessons that the kids were learning. The enthusiam of the kids was infectious. The teachers were wowed, and I was so thrilled to be able to make this happen. It opened up a whole new level of dialog among the kids in the class. Nothing beats that! Interactive learning at its finest! After the talk, the website became an instant hit in the school, especially among the special education classrooms. Project explorer truly has a gift of packing a punch into its videos.
I am a public school teacher who rarely gets the information on my own to teach my students about different cultures and places outside their textbook. ProjectExplorer is THE go to place for me to help my students understand other cultures, global citizenship, the environment and so much more. A wonderful tool all around!
ProjectExplorer is a truly unique and wonderful program. I was able to utilize lesson plans for my music classes as well as do a collaborative project with the other elementary teachers in my school all based off of the information researched through ProjectExplorer's website. Within the projects my students on numerous occassions commented how easy and fun the website was, and how they went above and beyond using South Africa and learned about London as well. To have this excitement in my students is more beneficial than just the core information in itself. As a teacher we are always looking for resources that will able us to provide accurate and up to date information to our students, but ProjectExplorer goes further by providing true stories, and personalities in their videos that you just can't find in textbooks these days. ProjectExplorer is truly a gold mind for information specifically designed for people to enjoy learning, and as a teacher you can't ask anything more than a resource that your students want to use.