Fourteen years ago, I started a small parent network to support children’s Swedish studies abroad. I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams what change it would lead to. What began as a modest grassroots initiative has grown into the Association of Swedish Beyond Borders \u2013 SMUL \u2013 a global community for multilingual families. <\/p>\n
The past year has been marked by continued growth for our organization. We have reactivated our advisory committee, formed a communications group, continued to develop our own teaching materials, and taught students in 44 countries \u2013 from preschoolers to young adults. <\/p>\n
Now my final term as board chair is over. It is a natural step after many meaningful years in the organization, which began within SWEA when I myself sought support for my children’s language development. Today they are adults \u2013 and their Swedish is solid! <\/p>\n
It is thanks to a whole range of dedicated individuals that my children today speak, understand, read, and write Swedish. I would like to extend special thanks to Svenska skolan i Vancouver, Svenska Distans, Global Svenska Plus, and most recently to the fantastic teachers at SMUL Academy \u2013 including Maria, Malin, Anna, and Annika. It takes a village to raise a child, and my children and I have been fortunate to have many who have supported us with Swedish and our cultural identity along the way. <\/p>\n
With great joy and pride, I now pass the baton for SMUL to my dear friend Marinette Sedin. Marinette has worked with multilingual education for over 15 years, including at Svenska skolan i Vancouver and Canucks Family Education Centre. She has extensive experience with volunteer work in Canada and a solid understanding of the BC Societies Act, which governs SMUL’s operations as a nonprofit organization. Her warmth, wisdom, and professionalism make her exactly the right person to lead SMUL forward as the next chair. <\/p>\n
I am so excited to see what direction Marinette and the experienced school team, with Karolin Eriksson as principal and Louise Sverud as administrator, will now set. I am stepping aside and turning the page \u2013 to a new chapter in life, where I am dedicating myself wholeheartedly to my new career as a counseling therapist. I carry with me the insights, compassion, and experience that have grown during my years with the SMUL families. The lessons \u2013 about language, belonging, and the power of community \u2013 will continue to guide me. I remain available as support on the advisory committee, but my time as a leader is over. <\/p>\n
The pride I feel for all of you and what we have built together is difficult to put into words.<\/p>\n
Thank you.
\nLena Norm\u00e9n-Younger
\nFormer Chair and Founder of SMUL<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fourteen years ago, I started a small parent network to support children’s Swedish studies abroad. I could never have imagined in my wildest dreams what change it would lead to. What began as a modest grassroots initiative has grown into the Association of Swedish Beyond Borders \u2013 SMUL \u2013 a global community for multilingual families. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1911,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nyheter"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smulakademin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smulakademin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smulakademin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smulakademin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smulakademin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smulakademin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1909\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smulakademin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smulakademin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smulakademin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smulakademin.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}