100K Stories

It’s been a busy month for us at Partners of the Americas as we have had the pleasure of announcing the winners of 38 grants, totalling $1.2 million dollars. The winners were higher education institutions located across 7 continents, 27 countries, and 24 U.S. states. (Next time, Antarctica!).

Overworked, over-caffeinated, and with little opportunity to fit elective courses in their schedules, students studying STEM might not seem like a good fit for study abroad programs. As a result of this assumption, STEM students have been historically underrepresented among students who choose to travel abroad. 

The data presented at this year’s Open Doors briefing serves as a testament to the efforts of Partners’ 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund to increase cultural exchanges across the Western Hemisphere such as the advances in creating or expanding study abroad opportunities in Colombia and Cuba. 

Despite the overwhelming consensus in the benefits of study abroad, numerous challenges exist in the execution and participation in programs, both for students and higher education institutions.

"We are no longer just designing a piping system; we are helping people get water without a long walk. We are helping them to survive.”

Two-thirds of the world’s population is at risk of facing water shortages by 2025, scientists say. Lakes and rivers fill with pollutants as water’s natural filtration system, including forests and grasslands, are destroyed.

The percentage of women studying toward a degree or working in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and architecture (STEM+A) remains lower than men in both the United States and Mexico. In the U.S., the percentage of women receiving bachelor’s degrees in each STEM field has decreased over the past decade, The Washington Post reported. 

The third major hemispheric 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund workshop will convene in Denver on May 29, coinciding with the newly sworn-in U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Roberta Jacobson traveling to Mexico City to start her new position. With these milestones, 100,000 Strong in the Americas is poised to launch to a new level of engagement and impact.

Argentina was not prepared for the strong impact generated by U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit. Like every president, he has successes and failures, both domestically and internationally. However it is impossible not to think of him as one of the best prepared men on earth to carry out a process of dialogue and understanding with any other political party.