Thanks to Our 2015 Sponsors! Applications Available for 2016 Travel Writers Academy- Deadline January 29! See the latest Girls Can! Magazine Issue Here! 2016 Travel Writers Academy CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR APPLICATION! CHECK OUT OUR 3RD ANNUAL GIRLS CAN! MAGAZINE ISSUE THAT HIGHLIGHTS THE AMAZING TIME WE HAD IN 2015 AS WE GEAR UP FOR ANOTHER GREAT YEAR! THANK YOU SPONSORS! The Merze Tate Explorers thank those who helped make our 2015 Travel Writers Academy a success! We couldn’t have done it without you! We are now accepting donations for our 2016 Academy! Please visit our GoFundMe Page by clicking on the link in the sidebar to your right! Thank you! In 2015 we sent our first two Travel Club Ambassadors to France! Listen as they reflect on their First International Experience through a 30-day Student Exchange Program called AFS International. Listen Wow! We are so excited about the opportunities our girls have to travel the world! Check out this story by Michigan Public Radio’s Dustin Dwyer! Click the Red Listen, or visit: http://stateofopportunity.michiganradio.org/post/honoring-legacy-seeing-world-and-enjoying-some-ice-cream-meet-merze-tate-explorers And, visit the September 11th Girls Can! Magazine Unveiling event at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts to learn more about our program! Travel Club Founder Shares of the Vision, Future for the Merze Tate Explorers Program and the Inspiration Behind its Formation Claire (in 5th grade) poses on a train as we head to Battle Creek to learn about the Underground Railroad. Natasha poses at the news desk of WWMT as the Travel Club goes behind the scenes of a newsroom. Natasha as she poses during her first day in the Travel Club in 2008. Claire today as she poses with her passport application photo to head to France! This year students of the Tate-Stone Travel Writers Academy will meet women executives at Whirlpool, visit the Holocaust Museum in Farmington Hills, and participate in an amazing travel excursion they could only take part in as a Travel Writer! Help make these experiences possible by donating to our http://www.gofundme.com/girlstravel and support girls today! Claire and Natasha have been members of the Travel Club since they were in the 5th grade. Today, as they prepare to become high school juniors next fall, they will return to school with exciting stories and cultural experiences to share from their 30-day trip to France with Faces of America. Help our younger students as they explore the POSSIBILITIES through their week-long academy experience in July. And, help us as we provide students with experiences that will last a lifetime and will benefit them in their careers and lives. Who in the World is Merze Tate? “The best that we as educators can give our students and graduates is capacity for continued growth. Having a purpose gives meaning to what human beings do. We cannot play football effectively unless we know where the goal line is. We cannot play the human game without right aspirations, leading us toward durable accomplishments.” Merze Tate She was stabbed and left for dead. Some documents on her are still “classified.” She attended one of the first public meetings of Adolph Hitler in Germany and purchased a ticket for a passenger flight in outer space. She rubbed elbows with prime ministers, purchased a ticket for a proposed first passenger flight to outer space and left millions to universities upon her death in 1996. More than eight years ago I learned of the phenomenal Merze Tate. Her name stood out to me on a list provided by Western Michigan University’s Alumni of ice. My assignment for the Kalamazoo Gazette (Michigan) was to write a story about WMU’s African American Firsts. The list produced a list of alumni who had earned local, national and international acclaim. However, one name stood out that I had never heard of, and frankly, didn’t know how to pronounce. The name was Merze Tate. What was it about her name that I just couldn’t let go? What was it about her life that led to her being named WMU’s first African American female Distinguished Alumna? The answer was astounding and resulted in me dedicating the past eight years to chronicling her life story for the world. With each amazing fact I learned about her another door of incredible accomplishments opened. Who was this woman who could have every title from history professor to expert in disarmament attached to her name? Who was this woman who, in the era of the Civil Rights Movement, was traveling the world and writing its history for scholarly works assigned as required reading at Ivy League schools across the country? Tate’s life will be chronicled in the first ever, soontobe released, biography of Merze Tate. *Details forthcoming A Life that Had no Limits… Ladies’ Home Journal compiled a list of the 100 most influential women of the 20th Century in 1999. Their list included those who have made great impact in the world of politics, arts, science, sports, entertainment, travel, and other areas. Those such as Indira Ghandi, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Helen Keller were named. While these women have extraordinary history, one woman they all knew, was not included. Her name was Merze Tate. This African-American woman lived through the eras of Jim Crow, Women’s Suffrage, Civil Rights, and many wars. In 1935 she went on to become the first African American to earn a graduate degree from Oxford University, and in 1941, became the first African American female to earn a PhD in political science from Harvard University. In 1950 she served as a Fulbright Scholar in India and her expertise in disarmament led to her being an advisor to General Eisenhower on international relations. She was an inventor, national bridge champion (bid in five languages) author of five political books and hundreds of papers and journal submissions, college professor at historically black colleges, and film maker for the U.S. State Department, among many other accomplishments. She was honored by such organizations as the National Urban League, the City of Detroit, and received many honorary degrees. Tate’s name is new to many, however the impact she made on the world in various areas allowed her to leave her mark on the world for generations to come.
