{"id":11130,"date":"2025-01-16T10:53:06","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T08:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fulbright.bg\/?p=11130"},"modified":"2025-01-16T11:00:04","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T09:00:04","slug":"pernik-eta-mercedes-janis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fulbright.bg\/en\/pernik-eta-mercedes-janis\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Run When You Can Play Football? Pernik ETA Mercedes Janis on Using Acting and Athletics in the Classroom"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Viktoria Dailova<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

On October 13, 2024, Fulbright | America for Bulgaria ETA Mercedes Janis checked an item off her bucket list by completing the full 26-mile Wizz Air Sofia Marathon. “This was my first, but definitely not last, marathon,” she says. “I’ve been running consistently for about two years and spent four months training specifically for the Sofia marathon.\u202fIt was so special to accomplish this in Bulgaria and get to share it with my students.\u202fI originally planned on doing a triathlon\u202fin the spring, but I may do the Varna marathon instead because of how much I loved the Sofia one!”<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mercedes came to Bulgaria with a background in theater and politics \u2013 perhaps not an obvious background for a teacher \u2013\u00a0 but her experience as an actor has inspired her to implement innovate teaching techniques in the classroom and encourage students to think critically about both Bulgarian and American culture, while athletics have also helped her connect with her students at Simeon Radev Foreign Language High School in Pernik.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From the Midwest to New York University and beyond, your educational journey has been quite global. How did those international experiences shape your perspective on education and your approach as a teacher in Bulgaria?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I am profoundly grateful for my entire experience at NYU, especially for all my cross-cultural relationships and the semesters I spent abroad in Florence, Berlin, and Shanghai. I quickly realized two things in university: 1) learning is never confined to the classroom and 2) each of us is in charge of our own education. I am trying to instill both lessons in my students. Learning is so much bigger than school\u2013 it can happen through friendships, travel, sports, gardening, going to the grocery store. It begins with paying attention to the world around you and kindling an innate sense of curiosity. There is a widespread sense of nihilism in our communities, but we cannot allow this to dampen our sense of ambition. Find whatever you care about and grow your passion for it. If you never figure out how to set goals that you actually care about working towards, you will never know what you\u2019re capable of. My university education didn\u2019t give me the answers to anything, but it did help me ask more (and better!) questions.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Could you share an example of how you\u2019ve integrated your theater skills into the classroom so far?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Everything about teaching feels like theater. On the most basic level, I need to make sure that all students in the room can hear me and see me, which requires a lot of vocal projection and physical movement. Beyond that, I strive to be completely present and focused in the classroom, which feels the same as performing. There is so much distraction in our culture now, especially for kids, and I try to model what full engagement looks like. I still routinely struggle with getting kids off their phones but my ideal classroom would be sensory deprivation in the same way the theater is\u2013 no phone, no side chatter, just you and some other people exploring the present moment together.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like most high schoolers, my students often feel a bit shy or are afraid of saying the “wrong” answer. I try to bring them out of their shells by being silly and modeling that mistakes are human. If we read a story aloud in class I will act the characters out with a dramatic voice or if I misspell a word on the board I’ll make a joke about it before correcting my mistake. I also save all my “lost in translation” stories to share with my students. Yes, it was embarrassing to be in a restaurant speaking Bulgarian and accidentally call the server \u0430\u0441\u0430\u043d\u0441\u044c\u043e\u0440 (elevator) instead of \u0441\u0435\u0440\u0432\u0438\u0442\u044c\u043e\u0440 (waiter), but it was a funny misunderstanding and made for a great story to tell at school.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve mentioned your efforts to encourage students to think critically about both Bulgarian and American culture. Could you share more on that?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I try to talk about cultural differences and similarities frequently, because it’s relevant to my day-to-day life and my kids are often interested in it. Just discussing similarities and differences leads kids to think critically about the role that culture plays in all of our lives. For instance, a really popular topic is prom in the USA versus Bulgaria. In Bulgaria, it seems like prom is generally a much bigger deal than in the USA and students often dress more formally in Bulgaria for prom than they would in the USA. Students are often really surprised to learn that I didn’t attend prom when I was in high school, and this was considered pretty normal. Another common topic is direct versus indirect communication. Students often joke with me about “Bulgarian bluntness”.\u00a0 I do think there are ways in which Bulgarians are more blunt than Americans, however I think it really depends on the situation. Sometimes I find Americans to be much more direct!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sofia Marathon seems to have made a big impact on you! What inspired you to take up long-distance running, and how has it influenced your time in Bulgaria?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had a long journey with athletics. I didn\u2019t play any sports growing up and loathed gym class. It\u2019s tough to condense the whole story down into a short answer, but essentially I realized I could not become the adult I wanted to be while also believing that my body was inherently weak. Once I had that realization about three or so years ago, I set out to undo it. Running was a big piece of that puzzle. When I arrived in Bulgaria, I was just reaching the most intense part of marathon training. Continuing to follow my training plan helped me structure my life in Bulgaria and feel a sense of normalcy, even when everything else was new and different. Running is also a really efficient way of getting your bearings in a new city.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Did your students know you were running the marathon, and if so, how did they react afterwards?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When I first began teaching, I often mentioned running when I introduced myself and my hobbies. I know road races are generally less popular in Europe than in the USA and I\u2019ve found this to be true. In the teasing words of one of my students, \u201cwhy run when you could play football?\u201d \ud83d\ude42<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s been your favorite thing about living in Pernik so far?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Going to workout at the Pernik Minyor football stadium. The air is fresh, the view of the mountains is gorgeous, and I love seeing the Eurasian Jackdaws (I think that\u2019s the type of bird?) flying around.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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By Viktoria Dailova On October 13, 2024, Fulbright | America for Bulgaria ETA Mercedes Janis checked an item off her bucket list by completing the full 26-mile Wizz Air Sofia Marathon. “This was my first, but definitely not last, marathon,” she says. “I’ve been running consistently for about two years and spent four months training specifically for the Sofia marathon.\u202fIt was so special to accomplish this in Bulgaria and get to share it with my students.\u202fI originally planned on doing a triathlon\u202fin the spring, but I may do the Varna marathon instead because of how much I loved the Sofia one!”\u00a0 Mercedes came to Bulgaria with a background in theater and politics \u2013 perhaps not an obvious background for a teacher \u2013\u00a0 but her experience as an actor has inspired her to implement innovate teaching techniques in the classroom and encourage students to think critically about both Bulgarian and American culture, while athletics have also helped her connect with her students at Simeon Radev Foreign Language High School in Pernik.\u00a0\u00a0 From the Midwest to New York University and beyond, your educational journey has been quite global. How did those international experiences shape your perspective on education and your approach as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":11167,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-etas","category-us-grantees"],"yoast_head":"\nETA to Pernik AY2024-25 Ran a Marathon<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On October 13, 2024, Fulbright | America for Bulgaria ETA Mercedes Janis checked an item off her bucket list by completing the full 26-mile Wizz Air Sofia Marathon.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fulbright.bg\/en\/pernik-eta-mercedes-janis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ETA to Pernik AY2024-25 Ran a Marathon\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On October 13, 2024, Fulbright | America for Bulgaria ETA Mercedes Janis checked an item off her bucket list by completing the full 26-mile Wizz Air Sofia Marathon.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fulbright.bg\/en\/pernik-eta-mercedes-janis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fulbright Bulgaria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/fulbright.bulgaria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-16T08:53:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-16T09:00:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fulbright.bg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/praising-mercedes-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2880\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2160\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Diana Milkova\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@fulbrightbg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@fulbrightbg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Diana Milkova\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fulbright.bg\\\/en\\\/pernik-eta-mercedes-janis\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fulbright.bg\\\/en\\\/pernik-eta-mercedes-janis\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Diana Milkova\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fulbright.bg\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4b6f495a4f28e3ade2163e6995ee8940\"},\"headline\":\"Why Run When You Can Play Football? 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