Help send Mr. Crawley to Sweden

·         My name is Matt Crawley, and I’m in my 15th year teaching at Millbrook High School in Raleigh, N.C. I currently teach American History, Sociology, and AP U.S. History to 11th and 12th graders.

·         In July 2017, I will be traveling to Stockholm, Sweden for a two-week professional development program. The program’s goals are to study culture and to utilize technology-enabled strategies to connect students for collaborative projects. Participating in this program aligns with my professional goals of incorporating more global content as I work to encourage my students to be global citizens.

·         I will travel with 14 other teachers from the Triangle region. The program is coordinated by N.C. State’s College of Education and largely funded by a grant from the Triangle Community Foundation. The grant covers housing, site-visits, and in-country travel during the program.

·         In 2012, I had a similar opportunity to travel with other teachers to Denmark to study innovation and technology. Not only was I able to bring back a wealth of cultural and historical insights that I regularly use in my classes, I was also inspired to create a new unit for my Sociology classes. The Danish focus on innovation—and the social effects of those changes—encouraged me to form a unit on the Sociology of Technology and Change.

·         Even with the generous grant that I have received, there are still a number of expenses for which I am personally responsible. I am seeking out other grant opportunities, but several people also encouraged me to use crowdfunding. The goal of this campaign is to raise funds to pay for my uncovered transportation and housing costs. These include my flights to and from Stockholm. I am also hoping to spend my “free weekend” traveling to the neighboring country of Finland, and this campaign would help pay for the flight and hotel there. To help pay for these expenses, I am trying to raise $2,000 by the end of December.

·         Please consider contributing to my campaign, sharing my campaign with your friends on social media, and following along with my travels next summer. You can check it out through my blog: http://crawleynordictrek.blogspot.com or follow my trip on Twitter @swedetalk17.