May, 2008
Conversa Student Leading Conservation Effort
Conversa student Kathy Chiu has been leading the way in an Earth Day event to be held on May 11th. Kathy has teamed up with Gabriel Obando at the Santa Ana Conservation Center to host this event along with the support of Rotary International, Fundación Pro Zoológicos FUNDAZOO (www.fundazoo.org), Democrats Abroad, CONVERSA and several local businesses. The event hopes to draw people from around the San Jose area to focus on awareness initiatives. Conversa and different Rotary clubs have donated over 200 trees to be planted in the Conservation Center as well as in different locations throughout the area. We'll be posting pictures of the event in our "Volunteer" section a short while after the event. Way to go, Kathy!
Policía Municipal to Become a Reality in Santa Ana
After quite some time in the planning and funding stages, the town of Santa Ana is finally launching its Municipal Police program. Initially the program will employ around 30 officers who will work jointly with the local state-funded security forces. Conversa has also been involved in the planning stages of this project by participating actively in the Santa Ana Safety and Security Commission. Additionally, Conversa will be donating English training for the Municipal Police staff in order to better support English speakers in the community.
Andrew Kaufman Appointed to Board of Local Foundation
Fundación Santa Ana Valle de Oportunidades (FUSAVO) recently appointed Andrew Kaufman, Conversa's Administrative Director, to its board of directors. FUSAVO, a relatively new foundation, focuses on providing support for people with substance abuse problems. The primary objective early on is to develop a strong program within the local government to address substance abuse problems as well as to provide addicts with a road to recovery. You can visit FUSAVO's web site at www.fusavo.org.
ConversaConmigo.com Lectures Pick Up Steam
To date, ConversaConmigo.com has hosted over 15 lectures around seven or eight different areas of the Spanish language. These lectures have served as a great opportunity for students (and former students) to participate and to polish off some of the rust that accumulates after you leave Costa Rica! To join this up-and-coming community, just go to the site http://www.conversaconmigo.com and register and you can be in next week's lecture just like that!
Paddle Tennis Anyone?
We recently installed a pseudo paddle tennis court out on the Santa Ana campus. The court is actually a sort of hybrid between a paddle tennis court and a platform tennis court. Basically, we did what we could with the space we had... It's been a great hit among students and staff members, who've been spending quite a bit of their time during breakfast and lunch breaking a sweat.
What's THAT Tree?
The Santa Ana campus is being slowly populated with small wooden signs to help answer this very popular question. With dozens of varieties of plants and trees on campus, we've taken the task to make rustic nameplates for most of them. We've got the Mandarina and the Lorito, the Hule and the Eucalipto to name a few...