These beautiful humans support World Language Initiative -MT in a multitude of ways.
They are community members, parents, and language enthusiasts who believe in the importance of second language opportunities!
They are community members, parents, and language enthusiasts who believe in the importance of second language opportunities!
Melissa Richey, President ~ Melissa is the Director of Development at the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and is a board member of Dogs for Conservation. Melissa is passionate about fostering global citizens in Bozeman area youth and is delighted to bring her development skills to WLI-MT missions and goals.
Christina Clark, Secretary ~ Christina is a Mandarin WLI-MT coach, and spent four years in Taiwan. She is passionate about early language and culture education. She brings her experiences in travel, communication and education learning to help support our WLI-MT mission of world language and culture k-5 access for all Bozeman Area students, including those in Belgrade and Gallatin County.
Mollie Pugh, Treasurer ~ Molly has lived and worked in Montana since 2002. She graduated from Northeastern University in Boston, MA with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and worked as a tax analyst with the public accounting firm Deloitte in both Boston and Anchorage, AK before transferring to Illinois and eventually Montana to work as a corporate tax software content manager with Corptax, Inc. Through her commitment to early language education she spearheaded the pilot after-school program at Morning Star Elementary where her daughter attends and served on their PAC board for four years as Cultural Enrichment Chair sharing her passion for developing global citizens.
Kali Huffman López, Officer ~ Kali was born in Ometepec, Guerrero, Mexico where she grew up in a bicultural and bilingual household. She is a Mexican-American dual citizen, and has a degree in cultural anthropology from US Santa Barbara. Kali is committed to improving people’s awareness and ability to navigate and embrace cross cultural experiences, and is delighted for the opportunity to share with the Bozeman community her native Mexico traditions and culture and bicultural heritage and training. She and is very excited to be supporting authentic language culture opportunities in the Bozeman Area.
Katie Wing, Officer ~ One of our newest board members, Katie Wing, is owner of The Loft Spa Downtown Bozeman. She brings a strong business sense, a commitment to mission-based endeavors, and a commitment and passion for language and cultural diversity to our community. We are so excited to have Katie on our board!
Brigitte Morris, Officer ~ Brigitte was born and raised in France. She earned a Master’s in Sociology-Anthropology at Université Paul Valéry in Montpellier, France, just before moving to Bozeman. One year after her settling in Bozeman, she fulfilled a personal desire and a community demand to share her French culture and heritage. She shared her passion and dedicated her time to teaching the French Language and Culture through creative processes. She founded a chapter of the Alliance Française in 1990 and rented a room in the newly transformed Emerson Center where she taught French and offered many cultural activities. Few years later, she opened Alliance Française’s doors to the teaching of other foreign languages and run successfully AF- Bozeman International Language School, which offered French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Chinese classes to hundreds of adults in the Bozeman community for about 30 years. It was an excellent way to respond to a multi-cultural and multi lingual niche in the Bozeman community and to use efficiently her space at the Emerson. Brigitte’s goals and AF mission have always been to promote communication in a variety of languages and foster friendly relations with people around the world. While making AF a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization as it is a worldwide non-profit organization, she was also implementing and teaching French in all the elementary schools in Bozeman and Belgrade with the support of school principals and an eager community to see children learn foreign languages at an earlier age. At the time, it was difficult to make it a mandatory discipline. She is pleased that the World Language Initiative has worked hard to make it possible and to offer many foreign languages in the Bozeman Schools.
Her other professional experiences include teaching French language and theatre at MSU for over 25 years as well as seminars with the Honors College and the College of Letters and Science. She taught one school year in a rural high school in Newcastle, Maine (in 2015-2016). She also likes to sub occasionally in Bozeman High School.
In June 2016, she received a Master’s in Education from MSU and continues teaching French at MSU and in the community, implementing communicative approaches, engaging learning, and best practices that she adapts according to her students’ ‘background’ and needs...
She is pleased to see WLI continue what she has built in the Bozeman community and to support it wholeheartedly offering her expertise and energy to help it grow stronger and lending a hand or two where ever it is needed.
Her other professional experiences include teaching French language and theatre at MSU for over 25 years as well as seminars with the Honors College and the College of Letters and Science. She taught one school year in a rural high school in Newcastle, Maine (in 2015-2016). She also likes to sub occasionally in Bozeman High School.
In June 2016, she received a Master’s in Education from MSU and continues teaching French at MSU and in the community, implementing communicative approaches, engaging learning, and best practices that she adapts according to her students’ ‘background’ and needs...
She is pleased to see WLI continue what she has built in the Bozeman community and to support it wholeheartedly offering her expertise and energy to help it grow stronger and lending a hand or two where ever it is needed.