Click here to subscribe today or Login.
WILKES-BARRE — In the stately surroundings of Weckesser Hall, Wilkes University President Patrick Leahy and Panama Education Minister Marcela Paredes de Vásquez spoke Thursday of lofty goals from a new partnership: A bilingual Panama with more women trained in science; an exchange of students, studies and ideas.
Asked how she liked Wilkes-Barre’s winter weather, the minister from a country where the average temperature is 81 degrees smiled and laughed. “Oh, I think, it’s a little different from my country.
“When we were in Panama it was 90 degrees; I arrive here and it’s almost zero,” she continued, “but it’s nice.”
“I don’t know much Spanish,” Leahy chipped in, “but I think I know enough to say hace muy frio.”
“That is true,” Paredes de Vásquez laughed.
Paredes de Vásquez came to Wilkes to continue a rapidly growing partnership between her country and the university first mentioned by Leahy during a Jan. 19 interview with the Times Leader editorial board. He touched on a wide range of topics, including a trip to Atlanta where he signed an agreement with Panama’s vice president.
Leahy said 20 Panamanian teachers are already in town for eight weeks, and the goal is to host such visits three times a year. The teachers take advantage of the University’s Intensive English Learning program, which Leahy proudly noted received a 10-year accreditation from the Commission on English Language Program Accreditation.
“Most programs only get five-year accreditation,” he said.
While Paredes de Vásquez already had some experience with below-freezing temperatures thanks to time spent earning a master’s in electrical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, she conceded that for many of the teachers visiting from her country “This was the first time they saw snow.”
In fact, for some of them it was likely the first time they left their home country, she added.
But far fewer Panamanian teachers will be able to say that in the near future. Paredes de Vásquez said the goal is to make Panama education “100 percent bilingual,” and that in pursuit of that goal the country has struck partnerships with “more than 25 universities” and is sending 10,000 teachers to schools in the United States, England and Canada.
“Panama is a small country,” she added. “That is nearly one-quarter of the total teacher population.”
Both officials said they are confident the opportunities will expand quickly from the partnership.
Visitors from Panama can take advantage of the university’s emphasis on STEM subjects of Science, Technology Engineering and Math, for one thing. They are also looking at the county-wide SHINE after-school program Wilkes helped set up. And the Women Empowered By Science program at Wilkes offers lessons in engaging young women in middle and high school in science subjects, another objective of the Panama Government.
Leahy said sending Wilkes students to Panama is also a goal, and Paredes de Vásquez championed the value of the idea by citing the expansion of Panama Canal, and the complex engineering in the project as well as the complex environmental science in making the canal operate properly.
Paredes de Vásquez said her country is improving rapidly “but there is still inequity in education,” and that the program will help fix that. The Panamanian government is covering the costs, she said.
“I believe an investment in people is a better way to improve society.”