Excitement builds as Corporate Service Corps Turkey Team 11 departure closes in

After 11 weeks of preparation, in just two nights I'll be at the airport boarding my flight to Istanbul, Turkey as part of IBM's Corporate Service Corps #ibmcsc turkey. The assignment:

Design a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) campaign in order to create strong awareness of STEM education and workforce opportunities throughout the country. The campaign will include doable recommendations and actions, which can be fulfilled by the business organization TÜSİAD, as well as the Ministry of Education and other public organizations. The strategic action plan will be in line with Turkey’s innovation agenda, knowledge society strategy, and national education vision. 

When I've told people I'm going to Turkey on assignment, they ask about safety given recent activity on the Syrian border but we've been assured by IBM security in Istanbul that "business is as usual" and the Syrian border is nearly 1000 km away. I'll continue to monitor the news and connect with Mr. Hüseyin Bayrak, our IBM Security Manager.

I can't wait to meet Deirdre, Prajyot and Frank -- my Turkey 11 Team 1 teammates with whom I've been working already on our workplan -- as well as all of my other Turkey 11 teammates from the three other teams.

I feel extremely fortunate to have been selected for this assignment, and hope that my skills and activities on the assignment will provide value to TÜSİAD and ultimately to students and the Turkish workforce.

We'll see how it goes!

Thanks to friends Mary Anne and Richard who shared the background image of the market from their voyage to Turkey!