This winter, a group of students from Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru came to George Mason University as part of the State Department’s Study of United States Institutes for Student Leaders (SUSI) grant, housed in the New Century College and directed by Lisa Gring-Pemble, NCC faculty member, and Rei Berroa, professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages.
For Gring-Pemble, the experience was memorable for its rewarding moments.
“You know those moments when you feel like everything is right with the world? We had a lot of those in this program,” she said. “Hearing our students share their personal experiences, perspectives and views on leadership was extraordinary.”
The program was geared toward students from underserved regions in Latin America and the Caribbean. According to Berroa, the program turned into a wonderful experience for all involved.
"The program required a lot of work and around-the-clock dedication," Berroa said. "It was a tremendous success that we owe to all of the people involved, including the participants themselves."
The selected students, undergraduates in college, were identified by their embassies as exemplary young leaders.
“I was one of the teachers, yet I learned because I saw America through the eyes of others,” Gring-Pemble said. “The students were without a doubt, one of the most intelligent, committed groups I have ever had the pleasure of working with. They had this abiding sense of commitment to family, to community, to learning and to making the most of their experience at Mason.”
The 21 students in Mason’s program received an on-the-go educational experience, traveling to different locations to learn about subjects native to those areas. They arrived in early January and stayed for a month.
The student group studied American family life and culture in Pittsburgh, immigration in New York City, leadership and slavery in Philadelphia, the limits of discursive democratic decision-making in Gettysburg and American history in Williamsburg.
The students visited many famous landmarks, including the White House, the U.S. Capitol, the National Museum of the American Indian, the Small Business Administration, the Newseum and the offices of the Washington Post. In addition, they met a host of notable figures, including:
- Sonia Sotomayor, Supreme Court Justice
- Rex Lee Jim, vice president of the Navajo nation
- Robert Lederer, Mayor of Fairfax
- Rick Rappoport, Chief of Police for the City of Fairfax
- David Rohr, Fire Chief for the City of Fairfax
The program concluded with the student group meeting representatives of the State Department, including Maria Otero, Under Secretary of State. During the presentation, students from Mason and other SUSI programs gave research project presentations.
Gring-Pemble said programs like this infuse the university with a different kind of energy.
“Even though we are an incredibly diverse university, the type of diversity that these students brought was not already here,” she said. “The regions and ideologies these students represented were different than any others. This was innovation at its finest.”
Berroa said the students will take memories of Mason back to their communities and into their future work, which could be both ambitious and groundbreaking.
"Mason guided the students to see, learn, and understand our imperfect society and encouraged them to transform their lives by serving their own societies," Berroa said.
In addition to her duties at Mason this winter, Gring-Pemble served as the program director for three SUSI programs this winter - at Mason, Wheelock College and North Carolina Central University. She also directed Mason's summer 2011 SUSI program. Berroa served as this winter's academic director.
Mason alumna Jessica Oxendine (MA '11, Spanish) served as the program's administrative coordinator, while six current Mason students, listed below, served as mentors:
- Sarah Brown, junior, double majoring in Latin American Studies and Criminology, Law and Society
- Talia Orencel, MPA '15
- Karen Ponce-Corral, freshman, integrative studies
- Kevin Argueta, senior, integrative studies
- Marine Herodet, senior, foreign languages
- Anna Martinez, senior, government and international politics
February 22, 2012