“Friends”, I am happy to report that I am now located in east Tennessee and southwest Virginia. I am here for my college board of trustees meeting this week and visiting family.
Yes, this is a late Post. My schedule to get important things done was completely filled before leaving home. Then, once I arrived in east Tennessee and joined up with my grandkids, I was off to “Dollywood” for a full day of fun…full day. This is “Spring Break” week and you can imagine the rest.
Copey Learning Center News…
The news in Copey is positive. Andrea, the Director is doing well after her surgery a couple of weeks ago. We continue to wish her a full recovery and soon return to the Copey Learning Center. Ana Yancy’s sister, Marta is home from the hospital and the challenges she was having with cancer seem to be resolved. The foursome planning to travel to the USA in June are getting things in line with passports, visas, and other matters. “Things are really looking sunny!”
Oh yes, we understand at this time, Seidy Rodriquez plans to be one of the adult chaperones. A reminder! Seidy is the “Founder” of the Copey Learning Center and none of this would have ever come to be without Seidy’s vision for something better for her community.
Volunteers Are Special…
This week is a good time to share some information about our two very experienced volunteer teachers. Having seen their resumes, I am very impressed with their work and life experiences.
Lizeth Vallarta was born and raised in southern California. She learned to speak Spanish
from her Mexican parents. She graduated from the University of California of Riverside with a BS degree in Mathematics. She has volunteered in under served communities such as Tijuana and El Hongo, Mexico. While in El Hongo, she supported a non-profit organization, Flying Samaritans. Flying Samaritans provides free medical services to the community on a monthly basis to an under served community where they do not have medical services.
Teaching abroad for Lizeth has been a dream come true. She enjoys traveling, teaching, and “making a difference” in lives of others.
Bob Whitten is from a small village called Studham in the south of England. He was a
teacher in the middle school in a village in the UK. He taught in Italy, then taught in China for ten years, and then moved on to teach in Taiwan. He can speak Spanish, Italian, and Chinese.
Bob has many interests including hiking, reading, music, photography, and oil painting animals and landscapes. He has also enjoyed success selling his paintings. He always wanted to visit Costa Rica and enjoy the very beautiful area with lots of nature. Bob also wanted to do volunteer work and help people learn English. He is another “difference maker”.
“Friends of Copey” welcomes both Lizeth and Bob. My desire to share these special volunteers with you is because I want to point out how fortunate these Copey students are to continuously have teachers who come to them from all over with a wide range of experience, knowledge, and talent. Surely, the students learn English but they learn much more than just English. They are exposed to life’s experiences from those teaching, learn about new cultures, and learn about different interests such as oil paintings, crochet, and ballet? Remember ballet???
When we support the Copey Learning Center, we help keep the Center open to these rich opportunities to learn from Lizeth and Bob.
Thank you All!!!