In hopes to develop a better education system in Haiti, The Open Society Foundation has sponsored Haitian professors to visit EARTH University to study their education model. EARTH professors will train these Haitians in developing a new academic model for them to implement at their own university.

Learn about other projects the OSI Foundation has sponsored for Haitian and African students to study at EARTH: http://bit.ly/ajHgAt.

Ph.D. candidate, Milan Michalek, from Czech Republic, will be at EARTH for four months, conducting research on organic compost.  His research includes using EM and Signma Gold for making compost and Bokachi, as well as making comparisons between composting methods in Latin America and Czech Republic.  His aim is to find the best way to use waste from orchards and vineyards by the end of his stay at EARTH.

Today, students from the National Institute of Agriculture in Panama begin working on EARTH’s organic farm. Leidyana de León and Edmundo Caballero will be here until the end of November.

Volunteers from Hewlett-Packard joined EARTH professors and students to plant over 3,000 trees on Saturday.

The event signified their commitment to carbon neutrality, an extension to a project began in 2008, where EARTH and HP committed themselves to a three-year reforestation project in Costa Rica.

Learn more about the project in HP’s brief Global Citizenship Report: http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/globalcitizenship/08gcreport/employees/volunteerism.html

On Friday, the Atlanta INtown Paper featured an article about EARTH University and its unique projects.  The publication applauded EARTH for its work in “providing education for deserving young people who lack the financial resources to attend college,” and explained the benefits of EARTH’s internship programs.

The article also discusses the relationship between Georgians and EARTH University. The EARTH University Foundation, which supports “the education vision of EARTH through gifts, contributions…and other initiatives,” was formed in Buckhead, Georgia in 1989, and remains there today.  In November, the Foundation will host a trail race to benefit EARTH.  The Foundation also hosts and assists in other local events, such as organic potluck dinners, to benefit EARTH.

EARTH’s presence in the Atlanta area is ever-growing.  Right now, there are two EARTH grads working at Bland Farms in Glennville, Georgia, overseeing the company’s “sustainable farming and practices and green initiatives.”  Also, three EARTH students are interning in different parts of Georgia. See the article in the Atlanta INtown for more information about what these students are doing: http://bit.ly/cKxrT9.