Education Summit Seeks To 'Unite Culture'
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
The theme this year for Warsaw/Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce's summit was "Building a Better Community: Uniting Culture Through Education."
After keynote speaker Dr. Juana Watson spoke, participants listened in as four different panels spoke about culture and education.
The first panel included Harrison Elementary teacher Judy Kinsey, Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. English as a second language Director and Akron Elementary Principal Blaine Conley, Warsaw Alternative Learning Center Director Tony England and Warsaw ESL Director Wendy Wildman-Long.
Kinsey said Harrison offers Club 456, an after-school program for fourth- through sixth-graders. Many of the students in Club 456 are minority students. She also spoke about the Global Virtual Classrooms, where children actually do school lessons with other classrooms from around the world.
Wildman-Long said the native language of 1,100 out of the approximate 7,000 Warsaw students is not English. They're not just speaking Spanish, but also Mandarin, Russian, Vietnamese and a host of other languages.
In ESL, she said the goals are for students to be successful, pass ISTEP and graduate.
At Tippecanoe Valley High School, Conley said, they have created a college club for their ESL students. High school students also can participate in a mentoring program at the elementary school level where the high school students buddy up with the elementary students. They not only work on skills, but also positive relationships, Conley said.
"It's a win-win situation for us," he said.
The Warsaw ALC has 13 different programs for students from preschool to adult education, England said. The largest group is the English as a second language learners.
Four high school and one college student made up the second panel, including Jessica Jermosilla, WCHS; Juan Cervantes, WCHS; Christi Muniz, WCHS; Tina Imm, WCHS; Jose Jurado, TVHS; and Ana Juarez, Case Western Reserve University.
Imm said the ESL program helped her with her confidence and learning ability. "It helped me with my problems so my grades are getting better," she said.
Cervantes said it not only helped him, but also helped him help other students more.
Juarez's family moved to Indiana in 1995. While she had many obstacles to overcome, she is glad to have had them because it helped shape her into the person she is today. And that person is a WCHS graduate, a Grace College graduate and a graduate student at Case Western Reserve University.
Asked what the biggest challenge ESL students face in the U.S. public education system is, Juarez said one of the biggest challenges is parent involvement. They care tremendously about their children and want them to succeed, but because of their language and education levels, they are not able to help their children as much as they'd like, she said.
Juarez said, in order for her to succeed, it was essential for her to have the support of others in the community to encourage her and help her through the steps. "If you asked me who helped me get to where I am today, I have a huge list," she said.
Employers made up the third panel, including Diana Scheele, director of human resources at Maple Leaf Farms; Ralph Villalon, affordable housing officer at Lake City Bank; Mindy Truex, director of public relations at Creighton Brothers/Crystal Lake Egg Products; Rick Rivera, DePuy Orthopaedics; and Ashok Raghavendra, relationship manager with Tata Consultancy Service.
Scheele said 49 percent of Maple Leaf Farm employees are Latino, and 56 percent are other than caucasian.
"I'm very impressed with Maple Leaf Farms and what they do to bridge the gap," Scheele said.
Villalon said that in July 2000, Lake City Bank took the initiative to reach out to the Latino community because it saw a need. Not many Latinos had a bank account. LCB put on a series of seminars to help the community, which covered topics from check writing to buying a home and saving for retirement. The bank has grown because of its efforts, he said.
"I think it's been very good for business," Villalon said.
Creighton Brothers makes use of the Reality Spanish program, Truex said. The program deals a lot with cultural aspects as well as language. The hard part, she said, is figuring out how to work the program in during the work day and still get work done and offer a lunch hour.
The last panel included community and church leaders, including Pastor Tom Abbitt, Sister Joan Hastreiter, attorney Tony Garza, Reality Spanish program coordinator Catherine Mangones and Mackenzie Cloutier, Cardinal Services, Sus Amigo liaison.
About 10 years ago, Abbitt said, Community Grace Brethren Church began offering Spanish translation of church services. That grew into its own service. Along the way, the church has learned about bilingual worship through trial and error.
"Some of the resistance is just subtle resistance," Abbitt said. But the biggest lesson the church is learning, he said, is that "in God's eyes, we are all the same."[[In-content Ad]]
The theme this year for Warsaw/Kosciusko County Chamber of Commerce's summit was "Building a Better Community: Uniting Culture Through Education."
After keynote speaker Dr. Juana Watson spoke, participants listened in as four different panels spoke about culture and education.
The first panel included Harrison Elementary teacher Judy Kinsey, Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. English as a second language Director and Akron Elementary Principal Blaine Conley, Warsaw Alternative Learning Center Director Tony England and Warsaw ESL Director Wendy Wildman-Long.
Kinsey said Harrison offers Club 456, an after-school program for fourth- through sixth-graders. Many of the students in Club 456 are minority students. She also spoke about the Global Virtual Classrooms, where children actually do school lessons with other classrooms from around the world.
Wildman-Long said the native language of 1,100 out of the approximate 7,000 Warsaw students is not English. They're not just speaking Spanish, but also Mandarin, Russian, Vietnamese and a host of other languages.
In ESL, she said the goals are for students to be successful, pass ISTEP and graduate.
At Tippecanoe Valley High School, Conley said, they have created a college club for their ESL students. High school students also can participate in a mentoring program at the elementary school level where the high school students buddy up with the elementary students. They not only work on skills, but also positive relationships, Conley said.
"It's a win-win situation for us," he said.
The Warsaw ALC has 13 different programs for students from preschool to adult education, England said. The largest group is the English as a second language learners.
Four high school and one college student made up the second panel, including Jessica Jermosilla, WCHS; Juan Cervantes, WCHS; Christi Muniz, WCHS; Tina Imm, WCHS; Jose Jurado, TVHS; and Ana Juarez, Case Western Reserve University.
Imm said the ESL program helped her with her confidence and learning ability. "It helped me with my problems so my grades are getting better," she said.
Cervantes said it not only helped him, but also helped him help other students more.
Juarez's family moved to Indiana in 1995. While she had many obstacles to overcome, she is glad to have had them because it helped shape her into the person she is today. And that person is a WCHS graduate, a Grace College graduate and a graduate student at Case Western Reserve University.
Asked what the biggest challenge ESL students face in the U.S. public education system is, Juarez said one of the biggest challenges is parent involvement. They care tremendously about their children and want them to succeed, but because of their language and education levels, they are not able to help their children as much as they'd like, she said.
Juarez said, in order for her to succeed, it was essential for her to have the support of others in the community to encourage her and help her through the steps. "If you asked me who helped me get to where I am today, I have a huge list," she said.
Employers made up the third panel, including Diana Scheele, director of human resources at Maple Leaf Farms; Ralph Villalon, affordable housing officer at Lake City Bank; Mindy Truex, director of public relations at Creighton Brothers/Crystal Lake Egg Products; Rick Rivera, DePuy Orthopaedics; and Ashok Raghavendra, relationship manager with Tata Consultancy Service.
Scheele said 49 percent of Maple Leaf Farm employees are Latino, and 56 percent are other than caucasian.
"I'm very impressed with Maple Leaf Farms and what they do to bridge the gap," Scheele said.
Villalon said that in July 2000, Lake City Bank took the initiative to reach out to the Latino community because it saw a need. Not many Latinos had a bank account. LCB put on a series of seminars to help the community, which covered topics from check writing to buying a home and saving for retirement. The bank has grown because of its efforts, he said.
"I think it's been very good for business," Villalon said.
Creighton Brothers makes use of the Reality Spanish program, Truex said. The program deals a lot with cultural aspects as well as language. The hard part, she said, is figuring out how to work the program in during the work day and still get work done and offer a lunch hour.
The last panel included community and church leaders, including Pastor Tom Abbitt, Sister Joan Hastreiter, attorney Tony Garza, Reality Spanish program coordinator Catherine Mangones and Mackenzie Cloutier, Cardinal Services, Sus Amigo liaison.
About 10 years ago, Abbitt said, Community Grace Brethren Church began offering Spanish translation of church services. That grew into its own service. Along the way, the church has learned about bilingual worship through trial and error.
"Some of the resistance is just subtle resistance," Abbitt said. But the biggest lesson the church is learning, he said, is that "in God's eyes, we are all the same."[[In-content Ad]]
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