Anne’s Group Seminar Update: Coming Full Circle
One of our Board members recently asked how this year’s Group Seminar went. I told them it was the best one yet. They laughed and pointed out that I say that every year.
They’re probably right. Every seminar is special. But this year was different: for the first time in our history, the seminar was led by a Scholar alumnus.
Dr. Brent Maddin, an ASU Scholar from the Class of 1994, led this year’s course in Finland and Sweden alongside his colleague, Dr. Lennon Audrain. Both serve in leadership roles at ASU’s Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and brought deep expertise in education, systems change, and learning design. More importantly, Brent approached the seminar not only as an educator, but as a member of the community who understands the program’s long-term impact. I shared highlights during the journey through social media posts. Those snapshots captured where the Scholars traveled and many of their experiences. What they couldn’t fully capture was the intentionality behind the experience. This year’s seminar looked different not because of where the Scholars traveled, but because of how Brent and Lennon structured learning, reflection, and community-building.
From the beginning, the faculty challenged students to move beyond simple comparisons between education systems. Rather than asking whether Finland’s schools should be copied, Scholars explored larger questions: What is education designed to accomplish? How do culture, policy, and values shape outcomes? What can Arizona learn while also recognizing its own strengths?
To support that deeper analysis, reflection became a continuous part of the experience. Scholars worked in small groups that remained together throughout the program. Those groups became spaces where students could process what they were seeing, test ideas, ask questions, and learn from one another. As you might expect, they embraced the challenge wholeheartedly.
At the end of the seminar, I thanked Brent for the exceptional experience he had created for the students. His response was telling: he described it as a “dream scenario” for a faculty member—a group of students eager to engage deeply with complex ideas, challenge one another respectfully, and approach every experience with curiosity.
The learning extended beyond the classroom. Scholars met educators, students, community leaders, and residents whose stories brought abstract concepts to life. They explored Helsinki’s celebrated public spaces, including Oodi Library, one of the city’s most beloved and innovative civic spaces; traveled north of the Arctic Circle; learned about the Indigenous Sámi people and their efforts to preserve their language, culture, and self-governance; and gained firsthand insight into the values that shape Nordic society.
As meaningful as the academic experience was, I expect the relationships formed among the Scholars will prove even more lasting.
Throughout the seminar, I watched students seek one another out during free time, engage in deep conversations, and create an exceptionally welcoming community. The group seemed to instinctively make space for everyone.
On our final evening, the faculty led a closing activity that captured what had developed over the course of the journey. Standing in a circle with their eyes closed, Scholars took turns stepping into the center while classmates responded to prompts such as: “Touch someone who inspired you,” “Touch someone who helped you feel like you belonged,” and “Touch someone who made this community stronger.”
No one knew who was touching their shoulder. They only knew someone had thought of them.
By the end, there were plenty of tears.
I was reminded that the seminar is about much more than international travel or academic study. One Scholar reflected on that idea far more eloquently than I can:
“I would be underselling this experience if I simply called it the best trip I have ever been on. While it definitely was, it was also much more than that. Having never traveled abroad before, I feel immensely grateful for the opportunity to expand my perspectives and challenge my previous assumptions. Our study abroad experience taught me not only how to be a traveler, but also how to be a scholar. The course encouraged me to think critically about and compare educational systems, all while strengthening my relationships with my cohort. It reaffirmed the importance of education and inspired me to continue learning more about it in our own state of Arizona. Guided by two passionate instructors, Dr. Maddin and Dr. Audrain, I learned more about international education, culture, and global perspectives than I ever could in a classroom.”
Alumni Gatherings
Reconnect with your Fliblings at an upcoming regional gathering:
- Boulder: July 25, 2026 [Sign up to attend here!]
- New York City: Sept. 26, 2026 [Sign up to attend here!]
- San Francisco: Oct. 24 [save the date for now!]
The Alumni Council would also like to organize gatherings in Atlanta and Boston. Volunteers are needed to help host these events. If you can assist, please contact Aidan McGirr: [email protected]
- Atlanta: Aug. 22
- Boston: Nov. 21
Alumni Hour: Summer Break
Although we’re taking a summer break from new recordings, past episodes of Alumni Hour are available on our YouTube channel or listen to the podcast on Apple/Spotify
Scholar Profile
When 2024 Scholar Ariana Rahman began researching endometriosis, she kept coming back to one question: “How can something so common, so painful, and so disruptive still be so poorly understood and so hard to treat?” Now, the ASU student and aspiring physician-scientist has been recognized as a Goldwater Scholar. Read more about her research journey and future aspirations.
Read the full story here.