SEED Students Arrive in California

The selected scholars arrive for the first time to Los Angles, CA. Photo by Jocelyn Arana.

.A group of 17 international scholars arrived in Los Angeles last week, to begin their six month program of study within the CSU system. They are as part of a USAID funded project called the SEED program. These 17 students in particular are all from El Salvador, but previous cohorts have included scholars from Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic.

All 17 are rural primary and middle school educators in their home country. Their purpose here is to learn teaching methodologies to incorporate into their classrooms back in El Salvador. El Salvador is currently facing many problems regarding gangs and gang violence, and many members are recruited at the primary and middle school levels.

Loker Student Union at CSUDH , where the students
 will attend classes. Photo by Jocelyn Arana. 

SEED stands for Scholarships for Education and Economic Development. The program is currently hosted by California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California, and it is the only Cal State so far to host the SEED Program at one of its Universities. Other Schools that have the SEED program in California include community colleges in Modesto and Bakersfield.

Juan Pablo Olivares, one of the 17 students selected for the SEED program says “We are very excited to be here and eager to learn everything we can to help make our classrooms and our country a better place”.  His classmate, Lissette Montes, added “We know we are lucky to be here, it was a long and intense process but we are thankful for all of it”.