A group of eleven educators - eight from the Madison Metropolitan School District, along with three others traveled to Morelia, Mexico this past summer. MMSD participants included MMSD staff: Ruth Reinl, Mary Gandolfo, Carrie Valentine, Barbara Marshment, Melissa Paton, Pam Dorn, Robin Weindruch and Amy Christianson.

Morelia is a city of approximately 800,000 people in the state of Michocán de Ocampo in central Mexico. The program, called MAESTRA (teacher), was sponsored by Edgewood College and aimed to increase participant knowledge of the Spanish language, have participants experience Mexican culture and family life through a homestay, and learn more about the Mexican educational system.

Participants on the trip stayed between two and three weeks, attending four hours of Spanish class every morning and having cultural tours or workshops in the afternoon. Participants went home for part of the afternoon to enjoy "la comida" (lunch) with their host family. One participant reported, "One of my best moments, among many, was going to dinner with my family." After viewing family photographs and meeting brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews she stated, "I really felt like a sister!"

The program included tours of three Mexican schools, a walking tour of Morelia, a day-long excursion to nearby pueblos, and a weekend tour of the city of Guanajuato, Mexico.

While learning about the Mexican school system, participants discovered some of the discrepancies between poor and more affluent schools. One school that was visited on the outskirts of town had classrooms with walls of plastic bags and cardboard. Despite the poverty in the area, the director explained that the school had been honored as a "school of excellence" due to high student achievement. Mexican public schools had classrooms that were outfitted with a data projector and Smart Boards (an electronic white board) so that the national curriculum could be taught via an electronic program called "Encyclomedia".

For more information about the MAESTRA Program through Edgewood College, contact Kate Hamoonga - 663-2249 or by email at khamoonga@edgewood.edu or Sheila Hopkins — 663-2236 or by email at shopkins@edgewood.edu.