Another bit from Draugas, from the current a.p.p.l.e. president

Vaiva asked me to join the A.P.P.L.E. group in 1993 to present sessions on Teacher Centers with my colleague Corinne Levin. I agreed to do this for many reasons, the chief one being my commitment to teaching and teachers. I have no Lithuanian roots, my parents were from Portugal and while I have been interested in history and knew about the Communist occupation of the Baltics at the end of World War II, that was about all I knew of Lithuania. I had shared the joy of the fall of the Berlin Wall and "Bloody Sunday" at the television tower in Vilnius, I never thought I would have the opportunity to be part of A.P.P.L.E. and assist in the development of a more democratic society through my work with teachers and Teacher Centers.

My first trip to Lithuania was one that will forever stay in my mind. While many things were different, our Lithuanian colleagues were marvelous, we worked and laughed as we tried to understand one another. We learned a lot about each other and recognized a lot of similarities in one another. We enjoyed evenings of dancing and singing. We spent weekends exploring the countryside ad learning Lithuanian History.

During our sessions, we learned more about expectations and roles related to one's position in a school. We learned how to work together and how to develop concensus in our groups. We learned how to develop needs surveys and how to identify specific strengths our colleagues might be willing to share with other colleagues. We discussed resources and recycling of resources. And at the end of our summer sessions, this first group of students witnessed the beginning of the first Teacher Center in Lithuania.

Over the years, several of the participants from these first sessions went on to study for Doctoral degrees, others moved into Administrative positions in their schools or cities or towns, others went on to become Directors of Regional Educational Authorities, and others went on to work at the PPRC or the Ministry of Education and Science.

In subsequent years, my colleague and I returned to Lithuania to work with other teachers and administrators to work on developing additional Teacher Centers. There now are 59 Teacher Centers in Lithuania, they work with teachers and administrators to implement and support innovative programs in educational policy.

I know that Vaiva was thrilled to have had A.P.P.L.E. so involved with the development of Teacher Centers in Lithuania, it was in keeping with her goals of encouraging teachers to become better prepared to meet the needs of a new, more democratic society. I will forever be thankful for the honor of being able to help with this project. It has been a defining position for me both personally and professionally.

As I write this, I am preparing for another Summer in Lithuania. I have been from one end of the country to another and have even been there in January for a series of sessions. My thoughts are with all of us who have had the honor of working with Vaiva and sharing in her spirit ans vision, we will miss her, but we are all richer for having known her and stood with her.

Dr. Barbara Henriques
A.P.P.L.E. President