Walk in Their Shoes
Get to know Mikulas "Miki" Hlava, our foreign exchange student from the Czech Republic
Mead High School met Mikulas Hlava as a foreign student. Miki is a Czech Republic representative and sent here by the Greenheart Exchange Program to get a new experience. “My dad heard about this program and wondered if I would like to study abroad. I promptly found it a fascinating idea so we set it up soon,” he describes.
The Greenheart program’s purpose is to enrich cultural values of leaders through staying in the United States. “I was interested in America and wanted to see the life of people here, meet new friends, recognize the cultural diversity,” says Miki. Once he arrived in the States, he was surprised at how kind everyone was to him. One thing which is unique for Miki is the tradition of saying grace in some of the American families. “The praying before eating is new for me,” he explains. “I’ve visited some dinners, nevertheless, someone do that and someone do not”.
Miki describes himself as an outgoing person who loves to talk with people and tell them about his homeland. He thoroughly enjoys being a foreign exchange student. “People are interested in my country and I am always willing to present it. I am not introvert and relate to that group of people who receive energy by sharing thoughts with others and communicating in a society,” he says.
Back home, Miki enjoyed running, skiing, watching different movies, and playing board games with family and friends back home. At Mead, Miki found many activities interesting and continued running exercises by joining the Cross Country Team. “I like Cross Country because it is a good way of communication with new people and I met many friends there.”
He goes on to underline the main differences which distinguish his old school to his new American school saying, “Here I have only eight blocks and they last for one hour and 20 minutes each. In Czechia there were eight to nine classes for 45 minutes and our school started at 8:15 am. I also appreciate teachers’ positive and friendly attitude and their will to help you. I find the opportunity to choose courses in American schools valuable. This year I picked programming and guitar, which I am interested in.”
Miki was also amazed by Homecoming dance. He says, “We don’t have it in my country and here it was a lot a fun and [to dance]!” Miki describes his favorite Christmas tradition from his home saying, “We cut apples, send nut boats and try not to drown them and sing carols on Christmas Eve.”
Miki is excited about trying skiing in Colorado and he likes to volunteer here. “I liked making lunches for homeless people in Denver because it helps community and I know they don’t have that much support as in our country.”
Teacher Feature: Ms. Warren
Mead students are happy to have such an interactive and supportive history teacher
Ms. Erin Warren, a social studies teacher at Mead High School, started teaching about 26 years ago. Ms. Warren was born in Orlando, Florida. She graduated high school at Winter Haven High School. While she was in Florida, Warren received her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Florida.
After teaching at Lake Gibson Middle School (in Lakeland, Florida) hurricanes Charlie, Francis, and Jean traveled over central Florida. “They hit our house, and we lost our roof, and we lost a whole bunch of fences. We were fortunate to have friends who worked in construction, so while other people’s homes didn’t get fixed, ours got fixed quickly,” said Warren.
Warren, her husband, and two year-old daughter at the time were affected by these disasters. Warren said, “We had no electricity for six weeks, and with a two year old in Florida, that’s awful.”
After the hurricanes, she asked her husband to apply for jobs “anywhere that’s beautiful” — he applied for jobs in California, Virginia, Carolina, and Colorado. “He got a job in Colorado, so we picked up and moved because I did not want to live with hurricanes anymore.”
Ever since she was a little kid, Warren wanted to be a teacher. Although when she started college a teacher whose class she was observing said, “Don’t ever go into teaching.”
After that Warren changed her major to forestry because she’s always been interested and passionate about the environment. After exploring the subject, Warren realized that she “loves the environment but [she] doesn’t love chemistry, science, and biology”.
She ended up going into political science then worked for a lobbyist before finding that politics are a “little bit shady and dirty”. After all of that, Ms. Warren decided to give teaching another try and she received her teaching license.
“As much as that one teacher said, ‘Don’t ever go into it.’ I found I really love it. So I started there and took a whole little path to get [back] there,” she said.
Ms. Warren said she loves history and always wanted to teach it. “History is just all stories, and everyone loves to hear a good story.”
Warren “is an amazing advocate for all of her students and works diligently to make sure that each of her students is seen and heard in her classroom,” said Ms. Shannon Martenson. “She also wants to have people be celebrated, seen, and accepted for who they are.”
Martenson loves Ms. Warren’s “southern-isms”— “everybody’s a ‘dear’ and a ‘darling’ and a ‘honey’”.
We are grateful to have Ms. Warren at MHS.
Raul Mares is a junior. He enjoys hanging out with friends, nature, being active, listening to music, and drawing. Raul is looking forward to being in journalism, making new friends, meeting new people and writing interesting pieces for the student body.