By Mike Greife,
November 17, 2016
WARRENSBURG, MO – Students in the Proyecta 100MIL Strong program at the University
of Central Missouri recently met with Lee Wong Medina, deputy consul of the Mexican
consulate in Kansas City, during his recent visit to the UCM campus.
The reception for Medina was the culmination of a month-long visit to the UCM campus
by a group of teachers and teachers in training from Mexico. The Mexican educators
were participants a program that brings university and students from Mexico to the
United States for an intensive English language and cultural experience. The students
arrived at UCM Oct. 17, and returned to Mexico Nov. 12.
The Proyecta 100MIL program is a result of the U.S. Mexico Bilateral Forum initiated
by President Barack Obama and Mexican president Enrique Pena to expand opportunities
for educational and cultural exchanges. It complements President Obama’s 100,000 Strong
in the Americas initiative, which seeks to increase student mobility between the United
States and the countries in the Western Hemisphere, including Mexico.
After addressing the visiting students in their native language of Spanish, Medina
thanked UCM president Chuck Ambrose for providing the opportunity for their visit.
“We hope that the students in the program will go back to Mexico and relate the experiences
they had here,” Medina said.
UCM President Chuck Ambrose welcomed Medina, and told the students that the campus
was honored to host them.
“The world is changing, and your presence here today defines who we are as a people,”
Ambrose said. “I hope we showed you the value of the worldly perspective that we aspire
to provide to all of our students.”
Ambrose added that the cultural immersion experience provided during their month-long
stay at UCM was an important element in the university’s future-focused educational
experience, and that bringing down language barriers continues to be an important
aspect of the future of the world.
“The growth in our Hispanic student populations has resulted in some of the most important
growth of our cultural diversity,” he added.
The fall 2016 group was the third group to attend UCM for the month-long experience
since fall semester 2014.
“This group in p particular left an impression our education degree students,” said
Valerie Heming, director of the English Language Center at UCM. “The success of these
visits have enhanced our program at the ELC, and really helped develop an appreciation
among our students for the value of studying abroad.”
