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Howard County Public School System Passport to the Future event. March 27, 2026 | Engagements & Connections, News Features, Programs On Thursday, March 19, 2026, Millennium Envoys participated in Passport to the Future, an annual workforce development event hosted by the Howard County Public School System at Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland. The program supports students enrolled in the Career Research and Development Academy, providing them with opportunities to engage directly with professionals and explore future career pathways. During the event, Millennium Envoys CEO Danny Evans and Program Manager Niles Rodgers connected with high school students from across Howard County in a series of interactive discussions focused on career exploration and global engagement. Conversations covered a wide range of topics, including post-graduation pathways, transitioning skillsets from a domestic to an international context, opportunities in both trade and higher education, and the growing importance of cross-cultural understanding in today's workforce. Students actively participated by sharing their understanding of international affairs, discussing languages they hope to learn, and highlighting countries they aspire to visit or work in. These exchanges reflected a strong curiosity about the world and a desire to pursue globally-oriented careers. Millennium Envoys is always proud to support school system initiatives like Passport to the Future that empower students to think beyond borders and begin shaping their roles in an increasingly interconnected world.

Best Buddies awarded $5,000 Howard County Youth Engagement Programming (YEP!). Laurel, MD - Best Buddies Maryland is proud to announce it has been awarded a $5,000 grant through Howard County's FY26 Youth Engagement Programming (YEP!) Grant Program to support an inclusive after-school program at Laurel Woods Elementary School in Laurel, Maryland. The highly competitive YEP! Grant Program supports initiatives that provide meaningful opportunities for young people across Howard County. Best Buddies was selected for funding based on the strength and impact of its proposal to create inclusive programming that brings students with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) together to build friendships and foster a culture of belonging. Through this grant, Best Buddies will expand its elementary school programming at Laurel Woods Elementary School throughout 2026. The after-school program will provide structured activities designed to encourage friendship, teamwork, leadership development, and social inclusion among students of all abilities. Best Buddies programs are built on the belief that meaningful friendships can transform communities and create more inclusive environments where everyone feels valued and supported. "We are grateful to Howard County for investing in youth programs that promote inclusion and connection," said Best Buddies Maryland. "This support allows us to continue empowering students to build friendships and create a more inclusive school community." The grant period runs from January 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026. During this time, Best Buddies will work closely with Laurel Woods Elementary School to provide engaging after-school activities that help students develop social skills, build confidence, and form lasting friendships. To learn more about Best Buddies, Howard County's FY26 Youth Engagement Programming (YEP!) Grant Program, or to join the Laurel Woods Elementary School chapter or another Best Buddies Maryland chapter, please contact [email protected] or visit https://www.bestbuddies.org/maryland/get-involved/.

HCPSS partners with South Korean school District to facilitate cultural and educational exchange. March 18th, 2026 Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) partners with more than 1,000 community groups and organizations to support its schools and its students, and recently added a new international partner to the mix: the Gyeonggido Gimpo District Office of Education in South Korea. Under the terms of the partnership agreement, HCPSS and Gyeonggido Gimpo District Office of Education staff will have the opportunity to share professional learning and cultural experiences as well as instructional resources. In addition, the two districts will establish and maintain relationships between several HCPSS and Gimpo "sister schools," with the goal of facilitating the exchange of educational and cultural experiences and helping to strengthen mutual understanding and appreciation of each school's cultures, communities and traditions. HCPSS' Chief Schools Officer Jennifer Robinson and Multilingual Family Services Supervisor Min Woo traveled to Gimpo in December to formalize the partnership. "It was an absolutely beautiful trip," recalls Robinson. "In addition to meeting with the superintendent of Gyeonggido Province and the Gimpo District superintendent, we had the opportunity to visit several Gimpo schools. It was amazing to see their classrooms, interact with their teachers and students, and compare and contrast with our experience at HCPSS." "Just as an example, there are no custodians at the schools we visited. Students take off their shoes when they arrive at school and they all have brushes and dust bins at their desks to keep their space clean," adds Woo. "Students also serve their teachers lunch before they themselves eat and are responsible for cleaning up their area." Robinson and Woo also observed several similarities between Gimpo and HCPSS schools. "As is the case in our schools, they use a standardized curriculum and teach a lot of the same subjects we do. And, like us, they have many very talented educators," says Robinson. "Also, kids are kids. No matter where they are from, they love to play, laugh, and discover new things." While they were in Gimpo, Robinson and Woo also had the opportunity to represent HCPSS and the United States at a two-day international educational symposium, organized by the South Korean government's division of international education. Titled "Unlearn to Learn," the symposium brought together representatives from educational institutions around the world to discuss the current state of education, as well as its future. "There was definitely a big focus on artificial intelligence," recalls Robinson. "We talked about how we are all in this together, trying to figure out what AI means for education in our own countries and as members of a global community." Both Robinson and Woo came away from their experience feeling grateful to their South Korean hosts, and in particular to Mr. Sung Hwa Jung, a former Korean Assembly staffperson who has helped facilitate meetings between HCPSS and South Korean officials over the years. "From the beginning through the end of our trip, Mr. Jung was there, ensuring everything went smoothly and helping us to feel welcome. He truly made us feel like VIPs," says Robinson. HCPSS initially established a relationship with South Korea in the early 2000s, when South Korean Assemblywoman Cho Bae Sook contacted the Korean Embassy in Washington, D.C., and asked the education consulate to arrange a meeting with HCPSS. HCPSS leadership then visited Korea and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Iksan District of Education. In the years that followed, groups of Korean students traveled to Howard County as part of a summer cultural exchange program, where they stayed with Korean families living in Howard County and took classes designed to immerse them in the English language and expose them to American schools and culture. Korean gifted and talented science teachers also came to visit HCPSS schools and meet with staff. HCPSS renewed its partnership with Iksan in 2017, and Korean students visited every summer until 2023, with the exception of two years around COVID. With the strong history that exists between HCPSS and South Korean educational institutions and the positive experience they had meeting with South Korean education officials in December, Robinson and Woo are excited about the future. "The Korean government has shown us that they are truly invested in their partnership with us. We are inspired to do our part to make this a successful partnership," Woo says. "This is such an awesome opportunity to build connections with educators who share our priorities, and for our students to gain exposure to, awareness of and appreciation for international cultures. In the future, I hope we can expand our work together to include sharing educational standards and enabling our students to spend time in each other's countries," adds Robinson.