Throughout the beginning of the year, Pittsburg State University welcomed two author teachers from Paraguay, Veronica Abente, and Natalia Burgstaller. They donated books to the local schools written by Abente that reflect Paraguayan culture.
When speaking about the purpose of the visit, assistant professor for the Department of Teaching and Leadership Dr. Donna Zerr said, “The two teachers came from Asuncion, PY to learn more about American schools and improve their English language. They visited all the schools in Pittsburg USD 250 and also many sights around including libraries, Crystal Bridges, Kansas City, and Lawrence.” While visiting, they also became familiar with PSU with Zerr saying, “They connected with many people at PSU, the city of Pittsburg, and also many Paraguayans that are attending PSU and/or living in Pittsburg. They lived on campus, ate in the dining hall, and used the Gus bus.”
While visiting the teachers also took part in English programs. When talking to Spanish professor Dr. Grant Moss, he said, “I just reached out to them as a Spanish speaker, because they came here to be a part of the intensive English program, so they were here for six weeks,” later adding that “Their purpose was twofold: to learn about the United States education system and also to learn English.”
But it did not end there as Moss also said, “What happened was a couple of my students in our “Spanish in the Community” class are working on a project right now. They are creating a free library in Spanish. I thought, well, why don’t we put them into contact with each other so that Veronica, who’s the author, can donate her books to the free library?”
Joanna Rivera Ramos, a junior majoring in construction engineering with a double minor in business administration and Spanish is part of the project to build the library and said, “My role in this beautiful visit is a project that Olivia Tune and myself are planning for the community. Our goal is to build a little outdoor library with Spanish and bilingual books at Meadowlark Elementary.” Later, she added, “As a Pittsburg resident, Olivia saw the need for more literature in Spanish, as Pittsburg has a large Spanish speaking population. For myself, I believe that it is important to build bridges of language and diverse cultures that connect us all.”
As a final note, she said, “Something else of note is that as the current President of Hispanics of Today, I am excited to announce that Hispanics of Today will continue our project now and the years to come with “book of the month” videos, housing various books, and donating books to the little library.” When asked about the importance of the visit, Moss said, “The reason why they were here was because they wanted to create some type of relationship with the college of education. They’re trying to figure a way to bring Paraguayan teachers over here as some type of exchange. We already have a Pittsburg State in Paraguay, and professors from here go down there and we teach down there, but it would be neat if we could figure out another type of exchange where we can have their teachers come up here.”
Moss is referring to PSU’s partnership with Comité Paraguay Kansas located in Asuncion, Paraguay, which offers undergraduate general education classes. The Kansas Paraguay Partners was created in 1968 in order to promote the exchange and partnership. PSU has offered courses in Paraguay since 2005 and students from both PSU are able to study at CPK and students from CPK are able to study at PSU. There are also plans to go down to Paraguay as Zerr said, “Dr. Gober and I are going to Asuncion in May to build and promote a relationship with teachers in Paraguay.”