Last week, CGE’s International Business students had the opportunity to spend a day with some local students at the Universidad Politécnica del Estado de Morelos. The Universidad students are studying administration as part of a three-year degree program, and the CGE students enjoyed being able to learn about the differences between the two programs of study (while practicing their Spanish)! Because CGE runs most of its own classes on-site, it was a chance for the students to see what a university campus looks like here in Mexico, and experience a taste of how it works.
After an introduction to the university, its programs, and its mission, all students traveled together to visit a small local school (la Escuela Conafe de Loma Bonita) that the university supports through various fundraising techniques. The school is being privately-run by a group of locals who sought to fix the overcrowding problem present in other schools in the area. Without many resources, and with many of their services relying on volunteer help, the school is now serving many local children in their education. With the help of the university, they are in the process of building another school room, which the CGE students were able to tour.
The group visits la Escuela Conafe de Loma BonitaBefore returning to the university, the group visited a local water park, el Balneario Ejidal El Texcal, currently owned by a co-op and in the process of restoring its facilities. Students were able to speak with the owners and tour the property, as well as discuss the possibility of creating one or more business internships for CGE students with the co-op.
After the visits concluded, the students returned to the university together for a group lunch and farewell, where email addresses and phone numbers were exchanged. Plans are already underway to create language partners between the students, to allow everyone to practice their foreign language skills (either English or Spanish), and get to know each other in a more informal environment! An understanding and appreciation of local culture is always an important aspect of study abroad, and this exchange has provided the students with many ways to achieve that.
What a great opportunity!
ReplyDeleteThe trip to the la Escuela Conafe de Loma Bonita was a great experience to observe a local school supported by a Mexican university and to also learn about the school structure of the Universidad Politecnica del Estado de Morelos. The support the university provided to small local schools throughout different communities was interesting to learn about, especially from the perspective of other university students. I enjoyed your explanation about the visit to the local water park and the discussions about different marketing techniques that could be used while partaking in possibly CGE business internships. I truly enjoyed this excursion and had a great time observing the culture of a Mexican university.
ReplyDelete