This summer Carpe Mundi bid farewell to Hansell Woods after a 10 year tenure at Carpe Mundi. Hansell came to Portland in 2012 to transform Carpe Mundi from a scholarship organization to a holistic mentorship program that included a cohort learning experience. Hansell was the Executive Director for 6 years, and then transitioned to what she loved the most, supporting a cohort of students for the remainder of her time at Carpe Mundi. She was the primary mentor for 9 different cohorts, started Carpe Mundi's second program PDXchange, and was the foundation for building out our mentorship curriculum.
Simply put, Carpe Mundi wouldn't exist without Hansell. Her leadership, vision, and passionate advocacy of Carpe Mundi students will be deeply missed, but also are a part of Carpe Mundi's DNA.
In as early as October 2013, Portland’s larger community started to take notice of the effort to see the world as a classroom. Lisa K. Anderson wrote an article, ‘Making the world a classroom’, for Pamphlin’s Media Group. In the article, Hansell states, “You can only do as big as you dream,” Bourdon said. “If you’re not aware of it, you can’t dream of it. Through those opportunities, students realize, ‘Oh! I can do this. I can leave and do something totally different.’ ”
Hansell is a dreamer and a doer. She and her family have moved to Colorado to be closer to family. We can't wait to see what amazing initiatives she dreams up and cultivates for her new community.
