AWC professor sees lessons in Panama charity
(yumasun.com) Sometimes college professors get students involved in the local community to broaden horizons, but Michelle Faust has gone about 2,500 miles farther down the proverbial road.
Faust is thinking more in terms of Panama in Central America.
The Spanish professor at Arizona Western College says she wants to teach her students more than a foreign language. Faust wants to teach students about themselves and expand their global view by helping raise money so that impoverished children in Panama can go to school.
"I think it's really important to see your own potential outside of your community, to see your own power and abilities at a larger scale and not limit yourself to any artificial borders," Faust said. "I'd really like my students to be able to help other people, so that they can see that they belong to a global community that extends far away. They will be able to see that they can touch lives around them - even far reaching."
The professor plans to invite her students - plus all of AWC and its surrounding communities - to support a nonprofit organization called Panama United. The organization states that its goals are to create a better tomorrow for Panama's children by taking care of today's challenges and needs. The charity's work focuses on education, health and fitness, nutrition and mentoring.
The professor has already met with students and they've come up with some initial fundraising ideas. But she stressed that the wheels have only just begun to turn, promising much progress in the weeks and months to come.
Faust discovered Panama United during a recent visit to Panama, where her parents now live. Faust's family is close friends with Miguel Bernard, the founder and director of Panama United.
"He was very impressive. I found him to be a very motivating man," the Yuma woman said. "I would call his organization almost like a start-up company. They have very big ideas and I would just like to help them."
To learn more about the charity and its programs, go to www.PanamaUnited.net.
Faust, whose family is from Puerto Rico, was raised speaking English, Spanish and French. She spent most of her formative years in Portland, Ore. She earned part of her undergraduate degree in Puerto Rico and taught English in southern France for a year.
"I've always been interested in working with a nonprofit organization on an international level," Faust said.
The professor quickly agreed that devastating poverty can be found much closer to Yuma and she presented her case for choosing to get involved - at least for now - with an organization so far away.
"I'm definitely interested in helping here, but part of my reason for interest in Panama United is educating my students by getting them involved in the global community. The local community is very important as well, but it's imperative that students see that even though we live in a small community, our larger community extends much further than our borders."
Faust has already placed a few donation jars around the AWC campus and plans to follow up with more. Students who have already expressed interest in this project are discussing a Latin dance this fall to raise funds.
"The plan is to raise funds and gather school materials, but funds are much easier to mail!" Faust said. "But I'm really crossing my fingers. I'm going to ask some of the shippers in this area if any of them would mind making a donation on our behalf."
For more information about the project, send e-mail to michelle.faust@azwestern.edu or call 317-7523.
---
Darin Fenger can be reached at
dfenger@yumasun.com or 539-6860.
