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“The world is increasingly connected, and students are graduating into an increasingly international workplace,” said Joe Troyen, founder of PenPal Schools, an edtech startup that just three months ago chose Austin as its new base. “It's more important than ever for students to learn about other cultures.”
[ibimage==32456==Medium==none==self==ibimage_align-right]To that end, PenPal Schools, has created a platform for more than 50,000 students in 43 nations to learn foreign languages, study global issues, and invest in knowing more about cultures outside their own. It includes text and video tutorials and runs on a pay-what-you-can model for teachers.
“What we're doing wouldn't have been possible even just 10 years ago,” said Troyen, who took over as CEO in 2013, a year into the company's run. “So many schools across the developing world are just now getting the devices and internet access to connect to the world. In turn, that's making them more curious to learn more about other countries and cultures. We use technology to make great connections, and to make communication highly educational, fun, and easy.”
[ibimage==32454==Medium==none==self==ibimage_align-left]Some of us may have childhood memories of corresponding with penpals abroad, but, until now, it was usually considered an extracurricular pursuit. “Unfortunately, programs like PenPals have fallen out of popularity in schools because teachers don't have time for anything that's not aligned to educational standards,” said Troyen. “That's why we created PenPal Schools — to provide fun cultural exchanges combined with highly educational standards-aligned curriculum.
The program has won a $15K grant from the Mozilla Foundation, quite a boon for an operation that's otherwise boostrapped with help from friends and family, and accolades from as far afield as Kenya.
“Our orphaned girls cannot get an access to quality formal education, food, health facilities, guidance and counseling support,” said Mr. Sungu, a teacher at the Kenyan Beverly academy, in an email to Troyen. “Penpal Schools is counted on as a big blessing, in that our orphaned students will have a chance to chat and share different ideas with friends from different parts of the world, something I believe will have a heart felt impact and boost to our efforts of training them to embrace the sense of belonging and acceptance.”
