How it Began

When I stepped off the airplane in Accra, Ghana that hot, sultry night in 1999, I felt like I had stuck my head into a raging furnace. Never before had I felt such heat, such humidity, and after dark! It was a bit unnerving to encounter the sea of black-as-night faces with beautiful, white smiles, beckoning me to a taxi with loud, boisterous West African-accentuated voices. Never-the-less, I was delirious with the excitement of leading my first of six Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Programs, six-week research projects in developing countries for 15-20 K-12 educators from New Mexico. I was green. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into. I had never been out of the United States except for short trips to Canada and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, during my college years, the details of which are best left unspoken. But I knew I wanted to create an experience of a lifetime for participating teachers. I learned a lot of hard lessons in that first program and wasn’t really sure I wanted to do a repeat. Never-the-less, do a repeat, I did, many times over in rural areas of developing countries, including going back to Ghana, on to China, then Brazil. Those adventures literally opened up a world of exploration and excitement for me, as a facilitator of unique learning experiences, and for the participating teachers. Then later, as a K-12 public school administrator, I led groups of high school students to Brazil, Mexico and Cuba. In each of the areas we traveled, I developed lifelong friendships and collegial relationships and it is those places to which I return, again and again.

Meet Vannetta Perry

As a lifelong New Mexican, I have had the wonderful opportunity to grow up and live in nature, surrounded by beauty and isolation. My roots run deep in my state. Both of my parents were native New Mexicans. My mom’s family were West Texas cotton farmers and moved to eastern New Mexico where she was born. My dad’s family homesteaded and ranched in the late 1800’s in southwestern New Mexico. I am proud to be a fifth-generation New Mexican farmer and rancher, and appreciative to be passing that heritage on to our children and grandchildren.

As a teenager, I dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. I received my Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from New Mexico State University with an aim at veterinary medicine, but, alas, love got in the way. I married a local farmer and rancher and began my hard, but fulfilling and wonderful life in production agriculture. I drove a tractor, baled hay, picked chile, sold vegetables on the town plaza long before farmers’ markets were the big thing, cared for cattle and horses, and raised three wonderful children on the farm. As is often the case, a spouse works off the farm to help provide. I worked at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, where I obtained my Master of Science in Chemistry, with emphasis in Biochemistry. I taught for several years in the Biology Department, then began running science outreach education programs for the university, one of which led me to international educational travel with teachers funded through the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program. I obtained my doctorate in Educational Leadership and Administration from the University of New Mexico and moved into K-12 public education administration. It was in that realm I began leading groups of high school students to Brazil, Mexico, and Cuba.

More about Vannetta Perry

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