news from the Education Team - Education

31 Mar 2023

Dear EduWiki friends,

I want to let you know that today, March 31st, will be my last day at the
Wikimedia Foundation.

Over the last 6.5 years, I have been really privileged to see you all grow
as leaders, and I'm so proud to have contributed in any small way to your
ability to build bridges between the education sector and the Wikimedia
Movement.

I want to stay this: I started working as an educator in 2006, and have
held about every type of role you can in the education sector. I spent a
lot of time observing what not to do. I’ve seen kids go through years of
schooling and still not be able to read or write. I have seen kids and
teachers lost in the “system”. I’ve seen teachers struggling with
classrooms of 60+ students with few resources, without even a desk in the
school (they kept their teaching materials in their car, can you imagine?).
I worked in a school once in a conflict zone, where we never knew if the
school would be there the next day. So, I hope you will trust me when I say
that the Education Team has done our best to support equitable quality
education by helping you--our EduWiki community-- promote Wikipedia & free
knowledge, and I know that together we’ve made a difference.

Your contributions as volunteers, affiliate staff, and allies has been
incredibly inspirational to me, and I will miss engaging with you on a
regular basis though I hope to still be in touch. I look forward to
continuing to see your work flourish. Please keep sharing what you do in
the newsletter, on diff, on LinkedIn, anywhere you get the chance, because
we’re better when we learn from each other and support one another.

On that note, I want to give a special shout-out to the Newsletter
volunteer team, because they have been working hard behind the scenes to
publish on time every month. They are so well coordinated, that they are
almost invisible, but they are there for you--collecting your stories,
helping you edit, and sharing EduWiki news for all to enjoy. <3

There are so many around the community that I need to acknowledge and thank
that this message would be infinite if I did it all here. Many of you have
become dear friends, and it has meant so much to me to share moments
whether in virtual calls or at Wikimedia movement events or just to meet up
if we were in the same area. Thank you for helping me learn and grow in my
Wiki journey.

I also want to say that Sailesh, Melissa, and Vasanthi are the best team
anyone could ask for, and I have been exceptionally privileged to work
alongside them and learn from them. I hope you will join me in praising and
highlighting a few of their accomplishments including Melissa’s work with
Reading Wikipedia in the Classroom that has supported rising leaders in the
EduWiki community to reach thousands of teachers around the world. The
community organizing program led by Sailesh that has championed equity and
inclusion, and made space for new leaders to grow and contribute to
Wikimedia in education. Finally, the often background work of Vasanthi who
has built participatory evaluation methods and tools that have allowed us
to always be learning, iterating, and improving. The Education Team is
still here for you, and you can reach out to them at education(a)wikimedia.org
.

Do stay in touch.

All the best,

Nichole

-- 
*Nichole Saad*
Wikimedia Foundation | Senior Manager for Education
nsaad(a)wikimedia.org
user: NSaad (WMF)