FIGT International Education Affiliate

Year Established: 2020
Type: Shared Interest
Gathering:  Virtual
Languages: English
Contact: internationaleducation@figt.org

Leadership

Bernie Lenoue
Bernie and his wife Katie first took their two teenage children to Japan to work at Fukuoka International School in 2002. That kicked off an international education journey that also included Nepal, Tanzania, and the United Arab Emirates until 2019. The last four years Bernie was working as a university counselor at Jumeira Baccalaureate School in Dubai. As a school counselor, supporting individual students, parents, educators, and school counselors has been at the core of his professional work since 1985. Most recently Bernie was confirmed as a Council of International Schools Affiliated Consultant Member. He attended his first FIGT Conference in 2019.

Stephen Toole
Born and raised in Australia, Stephen has just begun his 25th year in the classroom teaching social studies. He started his teaching career in Australia and left ‘home’ at the age of 27 to live and work in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, GA. He has worked in international schools in China, Germany and he is in his final year at ASB in Mumbai, India. He is married to an ATCK and is raising three TCKs (aged 7, 5, and 2). He is a member of the program committee of FIGT and has presented at the conference in 2018 and 2019. He is currently studying to gain his counseling degree at Lehigh University and will be working on this plus some other projects related to transition in 2020 – 2021.

Aleka Bilan
A TCK, daughter and mother of TCKs, and an educator, Aleka brings over 25 years of international school experience to her business as an educational transitions consultant. Aleka has been a teacher and a high school counselor on four different continents, with the past dozen years spent in Asia. Most recently, she was Head of the High School Counseling Department at Jakarta Intercultural School (JIS) in Indonesia, where she spent five years as a comprehensive social/emotional and college/career counselor for grades 9 to 12. Currently, she supports students, parents and schools with the transition from secondary to tertiary education. Aleka also serves on the Board of SPAN - Safe Passage Across Networks.

Visit the Events Page for upcoming activities.

Contact the International Education Affiliate at internationaleducation@figt.org