Final Chapter (of Part I)

Our final night together at Basil's, overlooking the river.

As I write this on Thursday, June 1, Ana, Mateo, Nikola, Edna, Rijad, and Dario are en route back to Bosnia and Herzegovina after a final two and a half days of seemingly non-stop activities. I think we're all exhausted, but in a good way!

We returned to The Entrepreneurs Center on Tuesday so the students could work on preparing their business pitches before Wednesday's presentation day. The students heard pitches from multiple local businesses, including Material Resources LLC, Obi, Third Wave Water, and the creator of Galatune, a card game. Each of the companies is local to Dayton.

The students took a break to test out Galatune, a card game created by one of the companies that gave their business pitches to the students.

After class, we traveled over to the Carillon Historical Park, where CEO & President Brady Kress was kind enough to donate tickets for us to see the park. While there, we had a great time seeing their new interactive exhibit where animatronic models of Dayton industrialists (led by Colonel Deeds) talk about the rich history of innovation that put Dayton on the map. The show is brand new, and it's really cool, especially the parts where you get wet!

Tuesday included a visit to the Carillon Historical Park.

Colonel Deeds gave us a presentation of Dayton's unique history, including NCR, the Barn Gang, the Wright Brothers, Kettering and Patterson's contributions, and more.

 We stopped into Newcom's Tavern to see how the Dayton pioneers used to live.

And, of course, we visited the Wright Brothers's bicycle shop.

We also had a look at their workshop, where they created the world's first airplane.

One of the coolest stops there was a look at the old printing presses the park has. They were really cool!

Even got a free souvenir out of it.

And, of course, the main attraction: the 1905 Wright Flyer, the only airplane designated as a National Historic Landmark.

After the park, the students went home to spend one more night with their host families before their final full day in the US.

Still not sure where this happened, but at some point Edna and Gloria went to visit some horses. They always seem to find random animals to pet!

Some of the group went to trivia that night, and we won! Thanks to my favorite trivia host, Rich Hopkins, for including some special questions about Bosnia & Herzegovina as bonus questions every round. Thankfully our team didn't miss a single one!

Wednesday was the big presentation day, where local business people and dignitaries (including Commissioner Joseph) came to evaluate the student presentations. All of the students had some excellent pitches, and I can't wait to see them become a reality!

Matt Joseph and other local VIPs provided the students with feedback on their pitches in a "shark tank" type format.

Mateo presented on the brewery he's going to be opening up in Mostar. Can't wait to visit it!

Edna has an awesome business idea for donkey milk. I can't wait to try it when we go over!

Dario, Rijad, and Nikola presenting their project. I won't tell what it is because I don't want to give up their trade secrets!

After the pitches, Ana had a surprise for Scott Koorndyk, The Entrepreneurs Center President. She presented him with an engraved frame and picture of the Mostar group in front of The Entrepreneurs Center. Hopefully they're the first of many future groups! I can't thank Scott enough for everything he and Jordan and their team at TEC did to make this course a reality. After class, he also asked for feedback on how to improve it for future students. No doubt improving it will be difficult, as it was already an amazing experience!

Many thanks to Scott and Jordan and everyone at TEC for creating this amazing experience!

Our next stop was the Dayton Regional STEM School, where the students participated in our annual Exhibition Night. Before it began, Ana and Edna also spoke briefly to some of our students and parents about their experience and thanked the school for our partnership with INTERA.

Ana and Edna presented Superintendent Fisher with a beautiful picture of the Stari Most, or "Old Bridge," Mostar's famous bridge, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, as a token of their appreciation.

Edna gave a brief glimpse of some of the things she did during her experience to the audience, which included State Board of Education Member Charlotte McGuire, who was also there that evening.

The gang at Exhibition Night.

Finally, it was time for our last dinner together. Most of the DRSS students and all of the Mostar students and their homestay families went to Basil's for a final dinner together. It was perfect weather for dinner on the patio, and the food was delicious! I was also really touched to get gifts from Matt and Ana. It really meant a lot! This experience would not be possible without each and every one of our amazing homestay families. You all are amazing!

Ana and the Joseph Family.

Peggy, Mateo, and Maddie.

Amanda, Nikola, and I.

The Campos family (Pedro, Gloria, and Joyce) hosted Edna. Bri was an adoptive member of the Campos family when it came to hosting Edna :)

Rijad stayed with Marlynne and Alan Saliwanchik.

Bob and Lori Simms Parks hosted Dario.

The weather couldn't have been better!

My partner in crime, Ana Bogdanovic, without whom this internship would not have been possible. Really means a lot to get this beautiful picture of the Old Bridge, which will definitely be hanging in my classroom next year! Also I'm not completely heartless, I'll be giving her the gift I've got for her when we're over there :)

Rijad needs to work on his selfie skills I think ;)

Finally, this morning the families dropped everyone off at the airport to see them off, although the students and I will be seeing them in no time as we leave tomorrow for Part II of this journey! Stay tuned...

The goodbyes at Boston Stoker, not Starbucks! (inside joke...) For most of us it was a short goodbye as we will be seeing them again in a couple of days! I know they made it to Newark and hope they have a great rest of the trip home.