Meet our distinguished grant recipients, whose dedication to global learning, justice, and community-driven change exemplifies the core values of the Global Respectful Disruption Summit.
Each year at the Global Respectful Disruption Summit, a collaboration between Compear Global Education Network and GoAbroad.com, Compear’s Personal Development Fund Grant recognizes individuals dedicated to advancing social justice, equity, and community well-being. By honoring these trailblazers and supporting their professional growth, Compear fosters a ripple effect of transformative change. Explore the stories of our past recipients, learn how they’ve leveraged this grant to break down barriers, and discover how their work continues to shape a more equitable future.
GRDS 2025 Compear Personal Development Grant Recipient:
Vera Bell
Vera Bell, Student Services and Enrollment Coordinator at the University of California, Davis, used the $500 Compear Personal Development Grant to help cover airfare for a solo international experience in London, UK, in November 2025. The grant supported their first independent international travel after a canceled 2020 study abroad program.
The experience strengthened Vera’s confidence, adaptability, and intercultural awareness, enhancing her ability to advise and encourage students from historically excluded backgrounds to pursue global learning. Following the trip, they began collaborating with UC Davis’s Educational Opportunity Program and Guardian Scholars Program to support students’ global education journeys.
“This was my first time traveling internationally on my own, and it was one of the most enriching and encouraging experiences of my life. The experience strengthened my confidence, adaptability, and cultural awareness, and now allows me to more confidently support and encourage students from backgrounds like mine to pursue global learning.”
GRDS 2025 Compear Personal Development Grant Recipient:
Adriana Smith
Adriana Smith, Certified Astrologer and university relations representative at the School for Field Studies. She used the $1,000 Compear Personal Development Grant to expand and deepen an emerging research-based framework that integrates astrology as an identity-affirming, reflective, and creative tool for personal and professional transformation. The grant built on themes from her 2025 GRDS presentation, Stars, Stories, and Social Change: Making Time for Playtime in Global Education.
Grant funds supported interdisciplinary research, framework design and testing, professional development, and qualitative data analysis. Over six months, Adriana facilitated four research sessions, engaging 28 participants across group and one-on-one settings and analyzing 52 qualitative responses. The work explored how internal resistance, burnout, and identity tension affect individuals’ capacity for meaningful change, particularly within justice- and equity-centered leadership contexts.
Through this process, Adriana strengthened her research, facilitation, and thought leadership skills while developing psychologically safe spaces that supported vulnerability, self-reflection, and identity-affirming growth. She credited Compear throughout her sessions as the funder that made this exploratory and transformative work possible.
“This work showed me that people are more willing to change when they feel safe enough to be themselves. Transformation isn’t linear, it requires unconventional tools, community, and identity-affirming practices that allow people to move through resistance with care.”
GRDS 2025 Compear Personal Development Grant Recipient:
Kim Scott
Kim Scott, Assistant Professor of Management & Entrepreneurship and Associate Director of the Office of International Programs at Elizabeth City State University, utilized the $1,000 Compear Personal Development Grant to support ECSU’s first faculty-led global learning experience in Kenya during June–July 2025.
The grant funded community-based site visits, cross-cultural professional exchanges, and engagement with local entrepreneurs, artists, and organizations, expanding access to immersive global learning for six students, many of whom were traveling internationally for the first time. The experience strengthened students’ intercultural competence, cultural humility, and global awareness, while challenging deficit-based narratives about Africa through direct, authentic engagement.
For Kim, the experience deepened her global leadership and intercultural facilitation skills and resulted in a pending institutional partnership, with ECSU preparing to pursue a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Strathmore University to expand future global education opportunities. Compear was acknowledged through participant social media posts and an official ECSU Kenya reflection video.
“This experience reinforced the importance of changing narratives through direct, authentic engagement. Supporting first-time international travelers in Kenya deepened students’ cultural awareness, challenged misconceptions, and strengthened my ability to lead with cultural responsiveness, adaptability, and intentional intercultural facilitation.”
GRDS 2024 Compear Personal Development Grant Recipient:
Naomi Rodríguez José
Naomi Rodríguez José utilized the $1000 Compear Personal Development Grant to provide scholarships for Afro-Brazilian students enrolling in ELSI®’s English Language Coaching classes and to purchase a professional training program on inclusive programming. The grant enabled her to enhance internal processes, strengthen financial management skills, and advance justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. A total of 40 classes were funded, supporting four students, while she also completed a NAFSA training. Challenges in scheduling classes provided valuable lessons for future planning, and she expressed gratitude for the guidance received as a first-time professional development grant recipient.
“The grant gave me the opportunity to improve internal processes such as creating and implementing tools to track student attendance, teaching time, and important post-class teaching notes. Additionally, I’ve strengthened my financial management skills by budgeting grant funds and finding alternate solutions when initial budget didn’t go as planned.”
GRDS 2024 Compear Personal Development Grant Recipient:
Tami Jackson
Tami Jackson used the $1,000 Compear Personal Development Grant to enhance her instructional design skills, streamline her job search, and revitalize her foreign language proficiency during a period of unemployment. The grant supported subscriptions to industry-standard tools like Articulate 360, LinkedIn Premium, and AI-driven job search platforms, ultimately helping her secure a job offer. She also suggested improvements for fund disbursement methods to enhance the grant process.
“The grant enabled me to focus on advancing my skills and knowledge in JDEI programming and intercultural learning. Through dedicated foreign language immersion and practice, I enhanced my ability to engage with diverse perspectives and cultural nuances while incorporating joy into what was otherwise a particularly challenging experience in my life. These activities strengthened my skills in not only the language itself but also prepared me to be able to contribute to working for an organization with a global footprint.”
Through the Compear Global Education Network’s support, Mrs. Pari Valad, Associate Professor of Visual Art and Fine Arts Department Chair at Virginia Union University (VUU), utilized her $1,000 grant to participate in Study Abroad 4711—an international program hosted by Virginia Union University. Together with her VUU students, she attended the Craiova International Shakespeare Festival in Romania, collaborating closely with educators and students from the University of Craiova. This festival features numerous professional seminars and workshops, with more than 300 events drawing attendees from countries around the world—including Romania, Canada, the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, China, Argentina, Mexico, Georgia, Poland, Sweden, Spain, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Moldova, Iran, and many others—ensuring a truly global experience. By engaging in these rich cultural exchanges, Mrs. Valad and her students not only enhanced their professional development but also broadened the horizons of the entire Virginia Union University community.
Quote from Mrs. Valad:
“I am deeply appreciative of the support, which made my attendance at this global event a reality that I’m excited to share with the Virginia Union University community and beyond.”
GRDS 2023 Compear Personal Development Grant Recipient:
Lakendra Bruston-Parker, Virginia Union University
GRDS 2022 Compear Personal Development Grant Recipient:
Aimee DuBois, Normandale Community College
The Compear Personal Development Grant funds were used to establish the Equity in Global Education Scholarship at Normandale Community College, awarding $1,000 to a second-year elementary education student, Selah Jacoway, to support her participation in the Intercultural Communication in Ecuador course—helping an underrepresented student access a global education opportunity.
“Receiving the Equity in Global Education Scholarship for next year's travel course program to Ecuador has been one of the best gifts I could receive. Without this scholarship I don't believe this trip would have been possible for me, so thank you. Due to the additional funds I've received, I am now closer to my goal of becoming an international English as a second language (ESL) teacher. Exploring the country of Ecuador will provide me with perspective, experience, and culture in a way that America has not... Being granted this scholarship has made me feel like there's nothing I cannot accomplish. With hard work, faith, and dedication, any dream is possible.” - Selah Jacoway
