SMITH STATION, Ala (Oct 13) – Today, partner nation instructors from the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) visited Smith Station High School (SSHS) to talk about their countries with Spanish class students.
WHINSEC Chaplain, and Partner in Education Coordinator (PIE), Maj. Jose M. Rondon, coordinated with instructors from Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, México, Panamá, and Perú. Each representative talked about his country and presented a country-cultural video to the students. Afterwards, they answered questions from the students.
Rondon commented, “great community engagement opportunity for WHINSEC and Smith Station as our volunteers get an opportunity to showcase their country and the students expand their cultural knowledge of Nations of the Western Hemisphere.”
The event was part of the national Hispanic Heritage month celebration which runs from Sept 15 to Oct 15. Smith Station High School Spanish teacher Zahily Vasquez organized the event at the high school.
“We decided to ask WHINSEC to see if they can come and introduce Spanish-speaking countries to our students so they can have a little bit more information about other countries as well as having a bigger world view,” said Vasquez
She added, “I am from Puerto Rico, one colleague is from Dominican Republic, and our third Spanish teacher is from México. We wanted to provide students with first-person interactions with representatives of other Spanish-speaking countries. This way, students can have a more complete perspective of Spanish-speaking cultures and what each country has to offer.”
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