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Five Holy Cross students will the leave the United States to teach in South Africa for one month. Beverley Bell, director of the Teacher Education Program, says the Holy Cross students will learn to teach without electricity, without overhead, in a trailer park surrounded by barbed wire in the small town of Pretoria.

The students made a stop at Burncoat High School in Worcester to interview a local English class with their FlipCams. The video will be uploaded through Facebook, so the American students can interact with the South African students. The South African students will watch these videos and then respond with their own questions.

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Mark Drago

NAME Mark Drago ’12

HOMETOWN Western Springs, Ill.

AREAS OF STUDY Mathematics major in the Teacher Education Program

WHERE HE’S GOING From May 16 to June 13, Drago, along with four other Holy Cross students, will take part in a Maymester to South Africa as part of a new Teacher Education Program initiative led by director Beverley Bell.

WHAT HE’LL BE DOING Drago, and the other students in the community-based learning course, will spend four weeks in South Africa, volunteering two weeks in inner-city schools and one week in a rural schools. They will also work in after-school centers and visit cultural, historical and geographical sites such as Soweto, the Cradle of Human Kind, and Apartheid Museum.

COURSE COMPONENTS The full-credit course requires students to conduct research on an educationally-related topic (Education and AIDS, race, economics of education, teaching of pre- and post-apartheid history in South Africa, etc.). Students will attend some lectures in South Africa on educational issues and will also learn Xhosa, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa. Daily reflection sessions will also be held.

A GLOBAL INITIATIVE As part of a classroom-to-classroom global initiative, students will partner with three schools in America (Greenfield Middle School, the Early Learning Center in Greenfield, and Burncoat High School in Worcester). For example, students in a history class at Greenfield Middle School are learning about Africa and will use South Africa as a case study. Some Holy Cross students visited Greenfield in early May, and Dr. Bell taught an introductory class on South Africa covering basic history and geography. They videoed each student as they introduced themselves and asked questions directed to a South African student about their lives, sports they play, and other interests. Students in South Africa will respond to the questions and ask questions of their own — which they will relay back to Greenfield using Facebook.

WHAT HE’S MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO Drago, who wants to become a math teacher, says, “I am most looking forward to working in a classroom outside of the United States. I am interested in seeing how education is in other countries.”

WHY HE’S BLOGGING “This is going to be an amazing experience and one I want to share in a blog. I hope everyone enjoys reading it and gets some sense of what my experience in South Africa is like.”

Read the blog »

* “Students in Worcester, South Africa interact,” Worcester News Tonight, May 12, 2010
* Video: Holy Cross Connects Students in Worcester and South Africa

Related Information:

* Check out our admissions and photo blogs, along with many of our other online journals at me.holycross.edu

Olivia Pruszko

Olivia Pruszko ’10, of Monroe, Conn., has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to Bulgaria. She will stay in Dobrich, located in northeastern Bulgaria 18 miles west of the Black Sea. Pruszko will teach English at Dobrich’s English Language High School.

A Spanish major, language has long been an interest to Pruszko. Since her parents emigrated from Poland, the first language she learned was Polish.

Pruszko also has a deep interest in education. She has completed 60 hours observing, tutoring and helping a middle-school Spanish teacher and high school Spanish and ESL teacher with homework, assignments, lesson plans and activities for their classes.

She plans on studying education and Spanish in graduate school, and hopes to work in education administration or become the superintendant of a school district.

At Holy Cross, Pruszko is captain of the women’s varsity indoor and outdoor track and field teams, co-chair of Modern Languages and Literatures student advisory committee department, member of the National Spanish Honor Society (Sigma Delta Pi), and fall orientation leader for incoming freshmen and transfer students. She has tutored at the Heard Street Elementary School, Burncoat Middle School, and Burncoat High School.

Each year approximately 1,000 college students are awarded grants through the Fulbright Program, the U.S. government’s flagship program in international educational exchange. Fulbright grants are made to U.S. citizens and nationals of other countries for a variety of educational activities, primarily university lecturing, advanced research, graduate study and teaching in elementary and secondary schools. Since the program’s inception in 1946, more than 250,000 participants — chosen for their leadership potential — have had the opportunity to observe each other’s political, economic and cultural institutions.

Watch the video (total time: 04:10) »

Two Foreign Language Assistants with degrees in film studies from University of A Coruña have created a video to promote the Foreign Language Assistants Program, which is part of the department of Modern Languages and Literatures.

The video, created by Miriam and Sonia Albert Sobrino, identical twins from Spain who have served as Spanish FLAs this academic year, shows students that learning languages is not only useful but also fun.

Helen Freear-Papio, coordinator of the Foreign Exchange Visitors Program at Holy Cross, challenged the Albert Sobrinos to create a hip video after watching one of their recent productions featuring FLAs titled “We are family and our family is Europe.”

In addition to language classes, students studying foreign languages at Holy Cross are required to attend practicum sessions taught by FLAs. The teachers help students master another language and give them insight into other cultures.

During practicum, the FLAs use different teaching methods. The most common are “situations” where students pretend to be in a foreign environment and must use their new language skills only. It is those “situations” that are translated to the video.

“As native speakers,” says Sonia, “the FLAs will prepare students to be ready to use the foreign language in any situation even those that might not happen in real life, like the spy situation in the video!”

Twelve out of the 14 FLAs participated in the making of the video.

“The FLAs did an amazing job,” Miriam says. “They were very professional, they never complained and they showed that apart from being great instructors, they also have wonderful acting skills.”

The Albert Sobrinos, who are also registered nurses, describe their year at Holy Cross as “amazing.”

“Living here has been a great way to get to experience American culture and along the way we formed a new family — the “FLAmily” as we all call it,” Sonia says. “We have made great friends among all the FLAs and students. The worst part of this experience is that it is over and we will miss all the friends that we have made here. Luckily, we will always have the video to remind us how fun our year has been.”

Watch the video (total time: 04:10) »

Katherine M. (Kim) McElaney ’76, director of the Office of College Chaplains since 1992, died Monday, May 3, 2010 after an illness.

During her 18 years as director of the chaplains’ office, Kim was committed to advancing her vision for campus ministry and the Catholic Church by mentoring students, especially women, and educating for social justice issues. Soon after arriving at Holy Cross, she started a chapter of Pax Christi on campus and launched the Mexico Immersion Program. In 1999, she began the Magis Program, designed to help students develop into leaders in ministry and the church. She was also a board member of International Partners for Mission, Pax Christi, and Jesuit Volunteer Corps East.  She also served as the chair of the board of JVC East for many years.

Born in Boston, Kim grew up in Newton, Mass. and West Hartford, Conn., where she graduated from Northwest Catholic High School. She was a member of the first class of women who enrolled when Holy Cross became co-educational in 1972. After graduation, she joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and, after that, received her Master of Divinity degree at Weston School of Theology, Cambridge. She first worked as a chaplain at Fairfield University before returning to Holy Cross in 1985. In 1992, she was named director of the Office of the College Chaplains, the first layperson and first woman to hold that position at Holy Cross.

In 1994, she received the Pedro Arrupe Medal for Excellence in Ministry from the Weston School of Theology.

Kim was an avid gardener, quilter, knitter, traveler, cook and baker, a strong feminist, and a vocal advocate for social justice. She was particularly interested in Latin American culture.

Calling hours are Thursday, May 6, from 4-8 pm at the Athy Memorial Home, Worcester, Mass. The funeral Mass will be celebrated Friday, May 7, at 10:00 a.m. at Christ the King Church, also in Worcester. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, contributions in her memory may be made to the American Cancer Society.

Kim McElaney

• “Kim McElaney; was chaplain at Holy Cross for 25 years,” Boston Globe, May 6, 2010