Club Lago del Bosco offers a variety of culturally authentic activities, taught in Italian, for villagers ages 10-18. These hands-on learning experiences meet once a week for six weeks to dive into cultural practices from around the Italian-speaking world, such as cooking, sports and art! Additional asynchronous activities for villagers to complete at home will be provided to maximize the fun!
Whether practicing the language they hear in their home communities or wanting to take a dive into Italian for the first time, villagers are set on the road to becoming global citizens. Club Lago del Bosco can extend their Italian learning or give them an introduction to Italian before they enter higher-level language classes.
All language levels welcome. Where possible, villagers will be grouped by similar proficiency and age. Staff to villager ratio of 1:6, on average. Sessions meet once per week for 60 minutes over Zoom; schedules are determined by each Virtual Village Club.
Laura Lucrezia Martell has been a part of Lago del Bosco since 2003. In 2005, She began her career as a guida (counselor) and has been expanding her skill set and experience in Italian language and culture and the CLVway ever since.
Lucrezia graduated with a B.A. in Italian Studies from the University of Minnesota in 2009. During her time as an undergraduate, she had the opportunity to spend a year abroad in Rome where she did coursework at La Sapienza. She received an M.A. in Italian from Georgetown University in 2016 where she wrote her thesis: “L’ATTRICE COME IMMAGINE PUBBLICA:LE STRATEGIE DI TRE ATTRICI DEL XVI E XVII SECOLO'' on the actresses of the Commedia dell’Arte. Lucrezia spent three years pursuing a Ph.D. program and student teaching at Duke University before leaving the halls of academia to return to the Minnesota Northwoods.
From cabin counselor to business manager, to baker, to assistant dean, Lucrezia has had the opportunity to make magic at Lago del Bosco for the past eighteen years. With the advent of virtual Italian programming in 2019, Lucrezia has contributed to bringing the Lago del Bosco community into participants’ homes.
