TCLP is fortunate to have a group of strong educational leaders each and every year. TCLP teachers take their host school Arabic and Mandarin programs to the next level and are the faces of these initiatives. The great efforts of TCLP teachers carry on when they return home as they continue to collaborate with one another in accomplishing program goals of sharing best practices, expanding cultural exchange, increasing mutual understanding, and developing sister school projects. Crucial to coordination of alumni activity are the alumni cohort leaders, who assist communication between TCLP alumni and staff in Washington, DC by reaching out to their cohort for updates. Alumni cohort leaders are committed to maintaining their cohort connections and building new projects through Critical Language Projects (CLP) grants. TCLP is pleased to announce the new alumni cohort leaders for the 2014-2015 group: Jia Lili and Ezzat Hassan. Ms. Jia is from Hebei Province and was hosted by Walnut Elementary School in Walnut, California. She taught Chinese language and culture to approximately 290 students. She embraced professional development opportunities in her school and district throughout the year. She employed STARKTALK methods in her classes and learned to use instructional strategies that can be integrated with any curriculum in different subject areas through Project GLAD. She has been such an advocate of professional development opportunities that she organized her own event at her school in China as part of a Critical Language Project. She collaborated with two other TCLP alumni to share best practices learned during her TCLP experience. She is also working on establishing sister-school projects. Mr. Hassan is from Mit Ghamr, Egypt and was hosted by Mentor High School in Mentor, Ohio where he launched the school’s Arabic program, which continues for 2016-17 with a second TCLP teacher. He utilized with great effectiveness the school’s one-to-one technology program, in which every student has access to a personal device in the classroom, to coordinate video conferences between his students learning Arabic in the U.S. and students from his school in Egypt who are learning English. He was also an active cultural ambassador in his host community. Throughout the year, he delivered presentations to his host school district’s feeder middle schools and Kent State University, volunteered to teach a class on Arabic language and culture to adults in his community, and regularly conducted outreach programming at a local senior center. TCLP encourages all alumni to be leaders in their educational communities and to collaborate together with other cohort members or alumni in the region. If you would like to connect with your cohort leader, or want to reach out to alumni in your region, feel free to contact TCLP staff as well. There are several alumni resources available to begin collaborating on a CLP or organize an alumni meet-up.