New Photo of Clay at Yale University

A new photo of Clay attending a Georgraphy teachers' conferences at Yale University earlier this month is up at Yale's website and at the Geography Action! blog.

Connecticut Geographic Alliance Welcomes Indonesian Ambassador and Clay Aiken

On November 1st, 2007, PIER at Yale and the Connecticut Geographic Alliance sponsored a Geography Action! Kick-off event providing professional development and resources for Connecticut teachers to host their own Geography Action! Asia Geo-Games event in area schools. The highlights of the event included the special guest speakers Clay Aiken and H.E. Sudjadnan Parnohadiningrat, Ambassador of Indonesia.

Clay Aiken, UNICEF Ambassador for children and education, and multi-platinum recording artist, has worked with UNICEF since 2004 and visited Banda Aceh, Indonesia, during the aftermath of the December tsunami. Recently, he traveled with Mary Propes, his high school history teacher, to Afghanistan to examine the schools and education of children in the war-torn region. Mr. Aiken, a former special education teacher in North Carolina, felt that this year’s Geography Action! focus on Asia was timely. “Nine in ten recent high school graduates cannot find Afghanistan on a map of Asia, and fewer than half (48%) know that Sri Lanka, the site of the devastating 2004 tsunami, is in Asia,“ Mr. Aiken reported. He and Mary Propes spoke about their experiences in Afghanistan with the audience of Connecticut teachers, and addressed the need for cultural and geographic literacy in our schools.