BECA - Bilingual Education for Central America

2011-2012 Volunteer Teaching Team

In its search for a diverse and accomplished team, BECA has selected the following volunteers to teach at the San Jeronimo and Santa Monica Bilingual Schools for the 2011-2012 school year. We could not be more excited to welcome them to Cofradia this July.

Administrator

Josh Balser

With an interest in Latin American culture and developmental economics, Josh landed the 5th grade teaching position at SJBS for the 2010-2011 school year. After showcasing a tireless work ethic and can-do attitude throughout the year, Josh was invited to return in the Administrator role for the 2011-2012 school year. Josh graduated from George Washington University where he minored in Spanish, spent a semester in Argentina, and studied Latin American history. Josh participated in the Nation's Triathlon in 2009, where he raised over $2,400 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through Team in Training. Josh writes that "it was during my study abroad that I decided my involvement with Latin America was hardly over, but rather beginning." Josh plans to use his on-the-ground experience in Honduras as a first step towards a career in international economic development.

Senior BECA Teachers

After a very successful team of second-year teachers in 2010-2011, BECA aims to maintain the dynamic with the following two teachers who have agreed to return to Cofradia for the 2011-2012 school year with increased responsibilities.

Stephanie Kott (SJBS Kindergarten)

Last year, Steph served as lead teacher of her Pre-K group of aspiring bilingual students. This year, she follows them into Kindergarten where she will also have 5 new students with which to work. Steph is a graduate of Stonehill College with a BS in Health Science and a minor in Spanish. She is a Division II All-American field hockey athlete and a Certified Nursing Assistant who has always been involved in outreach programs starting in high school when she was an ESL tutor. At Stonehill, Steph participated in alternative spring break programs working at schools and rehabilitation centers in both the Dominican Republic and Peru. Steph spent the spring semester of her junior year abroad at the Universidad de Granada in Spain. Living and traveling abroad has brought her a great appreciation and respect for different cultures. Steph's work in childcare in Summer 2009 developed her passion for working with children.

Andrea Palley (2nd Grade)

Andrea, too, will be following her 2010-2011 students from 1st grade to 2nd grade, where she hopes to build upon the solid rapport she has developed with her students. Andrea graduated summa cum laude from the University of the Pacific with a BA in Spanish and minors in International Studies and Anthropology. Following graduation she went on to intern for Refugees International in Washington DC for much of 2009. Andrea boasts a wealth of teaching and volunteer service experiences, all of which has informed her work in Honduras. She has tutored students in Mexico, Nicaragua, and Guatemala and learned the value of cultural exchange while studying abroad in Guanajuato, Mexico.

First-year BECA Teachers

Jessica Barrett

Jess's interest in bilingualism began while she was studying abroad in Catalan-speaking Mallorca, Spain during her junior year in college. After school she tutored a number of EFL students ranging from elementary school children to college professors, teaching them basic English while introducing them to American culture and customs. After graduating from the College of the Holy Cross with a double major in English and Spanish, she attended Middlebury's Graduate Spanish Language School in Madrid and Guadalajara, Mexico. During this time she continued to teach English to local students in her free time while immersing herself in the unique cultures of her host countries. In 2010 she moved to Yeongcheon, South Korea to serve as a Guest English Teacher with the government-sponsored English Program in Korea (EPIK). After spending a year 7,000 miles from home she is excited to live in a Spanish-speaking country again and to continue educating young minds eager to develop their skills in English.

Sean Bell

Raised in Victoria, Canada, Sean graduated with distinction in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Victoria in 2009. During his studies he worked in many engineering companies and fields such as automotive, forestry and public transportation focusing on environmental issues. Upon completion of his studies he spent his time traveling, volunteering and tutoring on 4 continents. From his travels, social interests and passion for teaching he realized that pursuing a career in Engineering was not the correct avenue for him to ultimately improve or positively affect the lives of individuals. Before combining his technical, social and pedagogical skills in further academia he was interested in the community involved work being accomplished in Latin America. The vision and goals of BECA were something that struck a very strong chord with Sean and he remarks that "working with BECA will allow me to grow my professional direction doing something I love, provide me with the experiences to help shape my path and learn as much from my students as they will learn from me."

Faith Burt

In 2008, Faith graduated from Appalachian State University with a degree in English, Secondary Education. She spent the next three years teaching English at an inner-city school in Charlotte, North Carolina. In addition to this traditional teaching environment, Faith spent several summers working at camps and outdoor education centers in West Virginia, Maryland, and New Hampshire. In order to better connect with the families of her students, she traveled to Cuernavaca, Mexico, an area where many of her high school students were originally from, in the summer or 2010 and volunteered in a community center. She looks forward to her new teaching assignment and is excited about the opportunity to grow as an educator in Cofradia.

Colleen Davis

Colleen graduated from Montana State University with a BS in Psychology and a minor in Women's Studies. Her years of volunteer experience include being an advocate and educator for victims of domestic and sexual violence and mentoring children with learning disabilities. She became passionate about Latin American culture and immigration issues during her time mentoring children of immigrants in rural Montana. Her belief in cultural exchange stemmed from her semester in Amsterdam and traveling throughout Europe, and is now confident in the connections people can make across borders and socioeconomic lines. She is looking forward to embrace the challenge of teaching in Cofradia, and is sure this experience will enlighten and enhance her plans of pursuing her studies in cross-cultural psychology and counseling.

Sarah Digby

Sarah recently graduated magna cum laude from New York University, where she received her BA in English and American Literature with a minor in Latin American studies. A near-native Spanish speaker, Sarah was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas and attributes her vast appreciation for other cultures to her upbringing near the Mexican border. A lover of languages, Sarah studied French and spent her junior year in Paris, where she traveled throughout Europe and North Africa and gained an even deeper admiration for different cultures. Sarah holds two teaching certificates and spent her senior year working as a Spanish tutor, interning with a non-profit, and even running in the 2011 NYC Half-Marathon on behalf of children in Peru. Sarah harbors a strong passion for childhood education and could not be more excited for this upcoming year in Honduras. She looks forward to using her strengths, skills, and passions to help make the world a better place.

Marisa Garcia

A recent graduate with a degree Elementary Education from Wheelock College in Boston, Massachusetts, Marisa aspires to break into the education world as a confident, well-rounded, and passionate teacher and her time spent in Honduras will be a valuable asset towards reaching these goals. In her time at Wheelock, she completed her student-teaching in two different Boston Public Schools. First, in a third grade inclusion classroom for children with behavioral and emotional problems, and then in a combined fourth/fifth classroom. She has spent the past two summers working for education internships: The Breakthrough Collaborative in Manchester, NH and The Steppingstone Foundation in Boston, MA. Marisa also spent the 2009 fall semester abroad in Granada, Spain. Marisa is honored to join the BECA team and hopes to bring her passion for bettering the lives of children and families to all those in Cofradia.

Madelaine Heath

Madelaine Heath graduated from the Ohio State University this past June with a degree in Speech and Hearing Science and a minor in Spanish. Throughout college she developed a passion for mission work through her Presbyterian Church group, with which she participated in mission trips across the United States. She was first introduced to Honduras during a December 2009 study abroad trip to Nueva Esperanza where she taught English to children in an HIV/AIDS home. She is excited to further her knowledge of Latin American culture and language during her time with BECA. Madelaine has also spent time as a teacher's aide at the Ohio State Child Care Center and has worked with children as a part of her undergraduate research thesis on child language disorders diagnoses. She studied abroad in Argentina in 2010 and looks forward to re-immersing herself in Hispanic culture. She aspires to work with Latino populations in the future as a Spanish-speaking speech language pathologist.

Renee Johnston

Renee graduated from Pomona College in 2010 with a degree in Applied Mathematics and a minor in English. Throughout college, Renee worked as an Upward Bound tutor and as an ESL instructor at a temporary job placement center for manual laborers, most of whom were recent immigrants from Central and South America. Later, she worked as a full-time math and biology teacher at Breakthrough Collaborative in San Francisco, a free competitive summer school for low-income 5th and 6th graders. In the fall of 2008, Renee studied abroad in Ecuador and lived with host families both in urban Quito and in the rural Amazon jungle. In the Amazon, she visited a number of public and private schools as part of a month-long research project, and ultimately realized that her concerns about education before that point had been very narrowly North American. For her research project, Renee designed and taught an introductory accounting course for a micro-credit bank. The experience made her appreciate not only how dramatically globalization and economic development can alter peoples' day to day lives, but it also made her appreciate how valuable a solid grasp of mathematics--along with increased access to schooling in general--could be during that transition. Renee's experiences teaching both in the US and abroad, have completely altered her ideas about what it means to think, communicate and connect with other human beings, and are also what initially attracted her to BECA.

Karena Malmgren

Karena received her BS in Secondary Education and a minor in Spanish in 2010 from Northwestern University and continued her education there for another year to obtain a master's degree in Elementary Education. During her time at Northwestern she participated in service spring/winter break programs working with refugees and low-income children. During her time in Chicago she has served with various organizations including By the Hand Club, Breakthrough Urban Ministries, and Park Community Church. Karena first discovered her love for children in underserved communities during a short-term mission trip to Honduras in 2006 and can't wait to spend more time immersed in the Honduran culture in Cofradia volunteering with BECA.

Greg Minogue

Greg received his B.A. in English from the College of the Holy Cross in 2008. After graduation he began working as a Financial Advisor Associate for UBS Financial Services in New York City. He received his stock broker's license on September 10, 2008, five days before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, though a direct correlation between the two events has never been proven. During this time he tutored economically disadvantaged children on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and volunteered on the Advisory Board of the Sacred Heart School in the South Bronx. A year and a half later he quit his job and moved to South Korea to teach English to elementary school children in the rural city of Yeongcheon, about 200 miles southeast of Seoul. While living in Korea he discovered both the joy of traveling and the pride of teaching, two sentiments that he looks forward to exploring more extensively during his time with BECA.

Kimberly Murray

Kimberly has always dreamed of living and working in Latin America and cannot wait to begin her year teaching with BECA. She graduated from Michigan State University where she received a BA with high honors in Spanish. While studying at MSU, Kimberly had the opportunity to travel on study abroad to Mexico and spent a semester in Valencia, Spain. Last year, she traveled to Honduras with the Michigan based non-profit, Limon Aid, to work as an interpreter for a medical team when she fell in love with Honduras and its people. Aside from her love of languages and Hispanic culture, Kimberly is a lifelong swimmer and pianist, who is interested in art and traveling. Kimberly is excited to bring her teaching experience as a swim lesson program coordinator and language tutor to the BECA team where she hopes to grow as a teacher and Spanish speaker.

Bianca Neri

Bianca was first introduced to BECA in Summer 2009 when she volunteered for 5 weeks alongside five other Summer Camp volunteers. After completing her Bachelor's degree at George Washington University this Spring, she was determined to make it back to Cofradia in a longer-term position. Bianca majored in International Affairs , all the while compiling an impressive resume of volunteer work. She worked with Health Leads to encourage healthy lifestyles for adolescent girls, served as substitute teacher at the Center City Public Charter School, and served two AmeriCorps terms with Heads Up, a literacy-based program for elementary school students. As she noted in her application, "In the face of great challenges both in DC and my time at SJBS in 2009 I was able to provide high quality experiences to my students because I fundamentally believe that students deserve the very best no matter what must be done to make that happen."

Kenneth Snyder

Kenny hails from Overland Park, Kansas where he was raised and went to high school before traveling west to attend the University of California, Santa Barbara. He graduated in 2010 earning a B.S. in Biological Sciences and worked as a test engineer for a communications equipment manufacturer before joining BECA. He enjoys spending his time in outdoor activity and helping local non-profits in ecological restoration. Kenny studied in Central America in college and is anxious to fulfill his desire to return as a volunteer teacher. He is thrilled to spend the 2011-12 school year with BECA's team and help promote its mission of education and cultural exchange, sharing his knowledge and love of the sciences with the students of San Jeronimo Bilingual School. He then plans to attend medical school in 2012.

Adam Wozniak

A recent graduate of the University of St. Thomas, Adam hopes to apply his Spanish and Internaional Economics degrees in Honduras. Adam boasts an impressive volunteer resume, including translation for the Friends of Orphans and assistance with Spanish speakers seeking employment in St. Paul, MN. Adam also has significant international experience with a year long stint in Granada, Spain and time spent on the Texas/Mexico border studying immigration issues. Adam looks forward to the team component of the BECA experience: " I have experienced many different roles within a team and have discovered how the structure of a team, as a community, gives individuals the ability to achieve that which individually is impossible."

Sarah Zelenak

Sarah is taking a yearlong leave of absence from her position as Middle School Counselor in Virginia to join our team in Cofradia. Sarah received her M.Ed. in Counselor Education from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2006 and has worked at Fairfield Middle School in Henrico, VA ever since. She has spent time as a volunteer in Costa Rica at Al Nino Con Carino and the Playa Hermosa Turtle Refuge. As a counselor and resource teacher, Sarah looks forward to using a broad array of learning tools to connect with her kids, such as painting, photography, music, and sports. She hopes to eventually take the lessons she learns in Cofradia back to the Spanish-speaking families she has been serving in Virginia.