Benjamin Franklin Transatlantic Fellows Summer Institute http://blogs.bftf.org Mon, 14 May 2012 03:19:39 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 WELCOME THE 2012 FELLOWS FROM THE U.S. http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/05/11/welcome-the-2012-fellows-from-the-u-s/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=welcome-the-2012-fellows-from-the-u-s http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/05/11/welcome-the-2012-fellows-from-the-u-s/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 20:34:35 +0000 Linda Petrou http://blogs.bftf.org/?p=2639 We are pleased to announce the following 2012 U.S. Fellows:
• David from Gainesville, Florida
• Roma from Charlotte, North Carolina
• Molly from New York, New York
• Dillon from Rancho Santa Fe, California
• Amanda from Tucson, Arizona
• Max from Atlanta, Georgia
• Amber from Tallahassee, Florida
• Sara from Charlotte, North Carolina
• Victorie from San Francisco, California
• Eric from San Diego, California

In addition, we have 58 International Fellows from 41 Countries. Those countries are: Albania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

We look forward to meeting everyone in July.

]]> http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/05/11/welcome-the-2012-fellows-from-the-u-s/feed/ 0 WELCOME 2012 FELLOWS http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/05/02/welcome-2012-fellows/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=welcome-2012-fellows http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/05/02/welcome-2012-fellows/#comments Wed, 02 May 2012 19:42:09 +0000 Linda Petrou http://blogs.bftf.org/?p=2640 We are really happy to announce that we will have 58 European and 10 U.S. Fellows this year from 42 European Countries and the United States. Keep watching this space for more information on the new Fellows and go to Ben Franklin 2012 to follow them. Let the adventure begin!!!

]]> http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/05/02/welcome-2012-fellows/feed/ 0 Rosa Huhtamaki Engages Through Art http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/04/08/rosa-huhtamaki-engages-through-art/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rosa-huhtamaki-engages-through-art http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/04/08/rosa-huhtamaki-engages-through-art/#comments Sun, 08 Apr 2012 17:40:57 +0000 Allan Louden http://blogs.bftf.org/?p=2629 Rosa Huhtamaki (BFTF Fellow Finland) has a project coming up more in the artistic/social engagement mode. She is doing an art project with a friend nationwide about the pressure of media that is put on to young people about their body. It is called ” your body is beautiful”. She will sharing pictures and videos about it later this spring. It also involves a flashmob happening in our captial Helsinki!
Rosa is pictured at the Finland BFTF alumni event last winter with Oliver Danenberg (Belgium).
]]> http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/04/08/rosa-huhtamaki-engages-through-art/feed/ 0 Angela Espinosa Ruiz http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/04/08/angela-espinosa-ruiz/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=angela-espinosa-ruiz http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/04/08/angela-espinosa-ruiz/#comments Sun, 08 Apr 2012 15:58:16 +0000 Allan Louden http://blogs.bftf.org/?p=2622 Angela Espinosa Ruiz, BFTF Fellow Spain , shared her exciting new project  She is doing a blog about Belarus that she started following the prize awarded and seminars in Warsaw Poland.  She was consequently invited to  http://pravdabelorusskaja.wordpress.com/

Also, here’s more information about the journalism contest I won: http://focus.solidarityby.eu/

]]> http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/04/08/angela-espinosa-ruiz/feed/ 0 Daniel Voda Interviews NC Secretary of State http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/04/08/daniel-voda-interviews-nc-secretary-of-state/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=daniel-voda-interviews-nc-secretary-of-state http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/04/08/daniel-voda-interviews-nc-secretary-of-state/#comments Sun, 08 Apr 2012 15:31:46 +0000 Allan Louden http://blogs.bftf.org/?p=2611 Daniel Voda, Moldova,  recently interviewed the North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall , former Senate candidate and currently seeking re-election as NC Sec of State, in Moldova. He also invited Marshall to join the BFTF students at Wake Forest this summer, where he will serve as mentor. Daniel has access that none of us natives do.  Listen to his interview.

Administrative director of the Ben Franklin, Linda Petrou, was elected last week to the Board of the North Carolina Center for Women in Public Service (http://www.nccwps.org/). Elaine Marshall is also on this Board.

]]> http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/04/08/daniel-voda-interviews-nc-secretary-of-state/feed/ 0 Kamile Kami Fuad Invites Remembrance of Day of Roma. http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/04/08/kamile-kami-fuad-invites-remembrance-of-roma/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=kamile-kami-fuad-invites-remembrance-of-roma http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/04/08/kamile-kami-fuad-invites-remembrance-of-roma/#comments Sun, 08 Apr 2012 15:25:54 +0000 Allan Louden http://blogs.bftf.org/?p=2606

Kamile Kami Faud (2011 Macedonia Fellow) invites her friends ot celebrate the International Day of the Roma people . She wanted to share this emotions with all of you . Theres a lot of events going on in this day all around the world. In Skopje we just did Dance Mob and it was great.
For those who dont know aboUt 8th of April ….The International Day of the Roma is celebrated in honour of the first international meeting of Romani representatives which was held just on 8 April 1971 near London.The participants of celebrations recall on this day their common origin, language, culture, their unification and cooperation, and in particular “Romipen” – preservation of their identity.The Romani Flag

The Romani flag consists of two lengthwise strips; the lower green strip symbolizes the unity of Romanies with the nature and the upper blue strip symbolizes their unity with the heavens, in other words with the spiritual world, philosophy and such like. The wheel in the centre of the flag symbolizes the migratory heritage of Romanies and has its roots in the Indian red chakra wheel. It had originally sixteen spokes and its red colour corresponds to the first chakra – the element of the Earth.

The Romani Anthem

The lyrics of the international Romani anthem “Gelem Gelem” were written by a Romany musician and politician Zarko Jovanovic from Beograd who has been living for years in Paris. The lyrics were set to a traditional Romany melody. The interesting thing is that Czech and Slovak Romanies have their own anthem “?hajori Romani” which was composed in the concentration camp Auschwitz. The international anthem was adopted as late as in 1990′.

]]> http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/04/08/kamile-kami-fuad-invites-remembrance-of-roma/feed/ 0 BFTF Alumni Launch New Youth Program http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/04/06/bftf-alumni-launch-new-youth-program/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bftf-alumni-launch-new-youth-program http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/04/06/bftf-alumni-launch-new-youth-program/#comments Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:42:31 +0000 Allan Louden http://blogs.bftf.org/?p=2598 BFTF-ers of two different years: Jonas Tylewski ( BFTF 2011, Germany) and me Narine Lalafaryan ( BFTF 2010, Armenia) are launching a new international project ” Young European Peers”  an international youth exchange gathering 28 young people from seven countries, Armenia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg and Norway, in order to learn more about public speaking, tolerance and Europe in all its aspects. The project will be held in Berlin from July 17th until July  27th  For more information you are welcome to visit the website!  BFTF-ers don’t miss this unique chance to participate!

]]> http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/04/06/bftf-alumni-launch-new-youth-program/feed/ 0 Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/02/27/alumni-engagement-innovation-fund/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=alumni-engagement-innovation-fund http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/02/27/alumni-engagement-innovation-fund/#comments Mon, 27 Feb 2012 20:45:28 +0000 Linda Petrou http://blogs.bftf.org/?p=2575 State Alumni is pleased to announce the launch of the second annual Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF). AEIF offers $1,000,000 to help teams of alumni tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues. In 2012, AEIF will award up to $25,000 per winning team.

If you are interested, please go to:

Alumni Engagement Information Form

]]> http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/02/27/alumni-engagement-innovation-fund/feed/ 0 HOST FAMILY APPLICATION FORMS http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/02/26/host-family-application-forms/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=host-family-application-forms http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/02/26/host-family-application-forms/#comments Sun, 26 Feb 2012 21:55:58 +0000 Linda Petrou http://blogs.bftf.org/?p=2475 BFTF is looking for a few good host families. Would you like to have the pleasure to host a student from Europe or the US for a period of 10 days July 13-23, 2012. If you are, here is the link to the BFTFI-HostFamilyApplication-2012

]]> http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/02/26/host-family-application-forms/feed/ 0 2012 BFTF APPLICATIONS FOR U.S FELLOWS http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/02/26/2012-bftf-applications-for-u-s-fellows/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=2012-bftf-applications-for-u-s-fellows http://blogs.bftf.org/blog/2012/02/26/2012-bftf-applications-for-u-s-fellows/#comments Sun, 26 Feb 2012 06:30:25 +0000 Linda Petrou http://blogs.bftf.org/?p=2372 Are you a U.S. student who wants to attend BFTF 2012? If so, applications can now be downloaded at

2012-application-form [Doc]

2012-application-form [PDF]

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