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ica<br />
South of the Border<br />
“Learning about another<br />
country is not just learning the language.”<br />
—Professor of Spanish Michaela Cosgrove<br />
That’s a lesson learned by <strong>Keuka</strong> students who conducted<br />
Field Periods hosted, in part, by la Universidad del<br />
Carmen (the University of Carmen) in Campeche, Mexico,<br />
in January 2003.<br />
And, it’s the reason why Professor of Spanish Michaela<br />
Cosgrove arranged for five students and two faculty members<br />
from the University to perform community service<br />
and see local historical sites when they visited <strong>Keuka</strong> for<br />
the second time in August 2004.<br />
“The idea is that both countries have social needs, and<br />
we want to work with each other culturally,” said<br />
Cosgrove, who laid the groundwork for the <strong>Keuka</strong>-Carmen<br />
exchange program when she visited Mexico in 2002.<br />
Cosgrove led the January 2003 Field Period, and<br />
helped arrange for environmental science major Justine<br />
Gricius ’04 to conduct a research-based summer Field<br />
Period with the University of Carmen’s Tortuguero (Sea<br />
Turtle) Program in July 2003. That August, seven students<br />
and six faculty members from the University of Carmen<br />
visited <strong>Keuka</strong> for the first time. In January 2004, eight<br />
<strong>Keuka</strong> students participated in another Cosgrove-led group<br />
Field Period to Mexico/University of Carmen.<br />
This semester, Cosgrove is teaching at the Mexican<br />
university. Her responsibilities are focused “principally on<br />
English-language acquisition for students studying to<br />
become teachers of English in the school system in<br />
Mexico, or to be Spanish-English interpreters,” she said.<br />
Mexican culture was the topic of a presentation delivered<br />
by the group from the University of Carmen to<br />
Rainbow Junction Day Care Center and Clinton Crest<br />
Manor (an adult care facility) in Penn Yan during their<br />
August 2004 visit. They also helped clean up the Outlet<br />
Trail.<br />
“Mexican students routinely fulfill a community service<br />
requirement for graduation, so this was nothing star-<br />
tling,” said Cosgrove, who noted that, last January, she and<br />
the <strong>Keuka</strong> students visiting Carmen “created a ‘<strong>Keuka</strong><br />
path’ at the botanical garden of new mangrove plants.”<br />
In October 2004, José Nicolás Novelo Nobles, el rector<br />
(president) of the<br />
University of Carmen<br />
visited the <strong>College</strong><br />
and signed an agreement<br />
with <strong>Keuka</strong><br />
President Joseph G.<br />
Burke to continue<br />
exchanges between<br />
the two institutions.<br />
“There are many<br />
opportunities—in sciences,<br />
social sciences,<br />
humanities, and lots of<br />
other fields—at both<br />
institutions,” said<br />
Cosgrove, who looks<br />
forward to faculty<br />
from the University of<br />
Carmen spending a<br />
Mexico<br />
<strong>Keuka</strong> students and faculty<br />
reciprocated the hospitality shown<br />
them in Mexico when they hosted<br />
Mexican students and teachers last<br />
August.<br />
semester at <strong>Keuka</strong> in the near future.<br />
“They could help me team-teach Spanish courses<br />
and/or run specialized workshops,” said Cosgrove. “I also<br />
hope to get them into a nearby public school system.”<br />
—Tanya Cornell-Kestler<br />
(Gretchen Parsells contributed to this story)
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