Westmont in Mexico
Discover the Mexico you never knew!
Updates on Westmont in Mexico Fall 2007
About Westmont in Mexico: Christian Education in Cross-Cultural Living
Are you the kind of person who loves a challenge and an adventure? Does becoming more fluent in another language and building relationships with people of other cultures excite you? Would you like to explore Christianity in a new context and grow in ways you never thought possible? Well, Westmont in Mexico may be just for you! Westmont in Mexico (WIM) is a fall semester program led by Westmont faculty and located in the beautiful, colonial city of Querétaro. On this program, students gain skills for effective cross-cultural living, experience incarnational ministry, and improve their Spanish language abilities. WIM offers students the unique opportunity to immerse themselves in Mexican culture through home stays, coursework, and field trips within the context of a supportive Christian community. Another distinctive feature is its integrated pre-departure, in-country, and re-entry training.
WIM is designed to be a part of the general education curriculum, and fulfills several GE requirements. Students from all majors are encouraged to apply.
Course Offerings
Courses in WIM are taught by Mexican university professors and the Westmont faculty director. While in Mexico you may earn up to 16 semester units. The courses are:
- Spanish Language*: beginning, intermediate, & advanced levels (Modern Foreign Language)
- Mexican History & Civilization (Thinking Historically)
- Principles of Art: Mexico (Performing & Interpreting the Arts)
- Integrative Seminar: Engaging Culture (Thinking Globally)
- Latin Dance ( PEA)
- Latin American Literature I & II (Reading Imaginative Literature)
- Mexican Literature (Reading Imaginative Literature)
- Mexico/US Relations (Political Science Elective)
- In addition to these courses, WIM has a pre-departure orientation seminar during the Spring semester
Unique Attributes
- The WIM program as a whole satisfies Communicating Cross-Culturally
- A bonus of the program is the intensive Spanish language courses, which means you will do the equivalent of one year’s language in just one semester!
Current Faculty--Fall 2008
Dr. Mary Docter - Resident Director for Fall 2008 (previously Fall 2004)
Dr. Mary Docter, Professor of Spanish, led the Westmont in Mexico Program in 2004 and looks forward once again to leading the program in 2008. While in Mexico she will be accompanied by her husband Eric and their two children, Gabriel and Isabel. Here are some things she would like you to know about her:
I first fell in love with Mexico when I was 19 years old. While attending UCLA I realized that although I loved Spanish, I honestly could not speak or understand it very well at all. That was when I decided to take a risk and spend my junior year in Mexico City. It was easily the best decision I ever made.
That year abroad literally changed my life. I was forced to grow up fast, meet new people, experience a new culture, participate in a different type of worship, and I loved it! So much so, in fact, that upon graduation I moved back to Mexico (with only $300 and a bus ticket) and taught for a year in a bilingual elementary school. Now, of course, I have a career teaching the Spanish language and Hispanic literature and culture. I think how different my life would be if I had missed that opportunity to study abroad; I never would have discovered the magic of Latin America, or my own special talents and gifts.
As leader of WIM, I want to help students discover for themselves the beauty of Mexico and its people. When we think of our neighbor to the south, many of us first envision empoverished border towns or Potter’s Clay ministries. My goal is to help you delve deeper and experience a more complex Mexico—a nation marked by diversity, shaped by those both within and beyond its borders, profoundly affected by the Roman Catholic Church, and blessed with a rich cultural heritage.
Location
The city of Santiago de Querétaro is located on Mexico’s high central plateau, 136 miles northwest of Mexico City, in the rich agricultural region of the Bajío. At an altitude of more than 6,000 feet, it enjoys a pleasant climate. Querétaro is both a charming colonial center which played a significant role in the country’s history. and a modern city with a population of approximately one million. One of the advantages the city provides for a study abroad program is that it is “off-the-beaten” tourist track. As one of the most intellectual cities in Mexico, it is blessed with rich resources in art, music, literature, drama, and colonial architecture. In recognition of its historical importance and cultural treasures, the United Nation has designated Querétaro as a world heritage site.
Host Families
During the Semester you will live with a carefully chosen Mexican family. You and your host family will even have an opportunity to correspond and get to know each other before the program begins. All participants will have their own bedroom, meals with the family, and laundry service. The families are eager to incorporate you into their daily lives, and we believe the home stay will be one of the most rewarding aspects of your experience abroad.
Activites & Field Trips
WIM provides several organized opportunities for you to learn about and explore Mexico beyond Querétaro. For example, you will travel from the megalopolis of Mexico City (the world’s largest city) to rural indigenous villages. You will experience typical religious and national festivals such as the Day of the Dead, Mexican Independence Day, and the Virgin of Guadalupe Day. Destinations may include:
- Mexico City
- Pyramids of Teotihaucan
- Guanajato
- The Sierra Gorda
- San Migeal de Allende
To Apply
Download the application or pick up a hard copy from the Off Campus Programs Office in Kerrwood Hall. The application deadline is October 31. Students will be notified of their acceptance before Christmas vacation.
For more information, visit the Off Campus Programs Office or contact Dr. Mary Docter by phone (565-7182) or email docter@westmont.edu
Westmont sponsors this program with the assistance of IUSI.
Management of and liability for the program are the responsibility of Westmont.
Former Faculty
Dr. Laura Montgomery - Resident Director 2007
Dr. Laura Montgomery, Professor of Anthropology, will be the resident director for WIM 2007. Her daughter, Ellen, will again join her for the semester. Her oldest daughter, Linnea, and husband, Karl Sandin, will be visiting frequently.
I am very excited to return as Resident Director for WIM 2007. I had the privilege of leading WIM 2005 with a wonderful group of students, and it was one of the most rewarding teaching experiences of my career. Everyday life was our classroom. We explored Mexican culture in a variety of ways: living with families, fieldtrips, a bullfight, art gallery openings, fiestas, plays, conversations with people on the street, great food, and, of course, classes. Querétaro is truly a beautiful, friendly city in a magical country. We’ll have an unforgettable semester of learning, living, and growing!
My first introduction to Mexico came as a small child. I grew up in Chula Vista, California, where the U.S.-Mexico border is a stone’s throw away. Many trips across the border with my family sparked my fascination in other cultures, particularly Latin America. It led me to become a professional cultural anthropologist and to a teaching career in Christian, higher education.
My first extended stay in Latin America began in high school with a summer program sponsored by the mission board of my denomination at that time. After those seven weeks in Guatemala and Honduras, I knew I wanted to learn more about people who lived lives very different from my own. As an undergraduate at Wheaton College, I had the privilege of participating in the Human Needs and Human Resources Program which led to a nine month internship in Guatemala where I researched the nutritional habits and status of a Mayan village. That opportunity to study abroad was a turning point in my intellectual, personal, and spiritual growth. It was challenging and sometimes intimidating to learn how to live in another culture and speak another language, but people were gracious, hospitable, and always helpful. Later in graduate school, I lived in the Mexicali Valley in northwest Mexico for two years where I studied how a rural community coped with ecological problems that threatened their agricultural productivity. I continue to do research in Mexico with U.S. and Mexican colleagues.
These and many more cross-cultural experiences taught me that I can’t really know or love another person unless I understand their culture and language. The Westmont in Mexico Program is a wonderful opportunity to improve your Spanish and develop the awareness and skills to adapt and communicate effectively cross-culturally. Since those first childhood trips to Tijuana, I’ve discovered there are many Mexicos beyond what I ever could have imagined. My goal as resident director is to help students discover the depths and complexity of this beautiful country and its people.
Dr. Ray Rosentrater - Resident Director 2006
Dr. Ray Rosentrater, Professor of Mathematics, led the Westmont in Mexico Program in 2006. He was accompanied by his wife, Brenda. His daughter, Amanda, (2001 Westmont grad in Spanish/Kinesiology) made regular visits.
When I was almost three, my family moved to Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico where my father worked in a small print shop setting type for Wycliffe Bible Translators. We lived there for almost three years shopping in the local markets, attending local churches, and living in a series of apartments. I even attended an international preschool for awhile. While I was too young to remember much, this time marks the begiinning of a strong connection to Mexico for our family.
This connection was continued when we later lived in Kansas City. Part of the time, our family (read “my parents”) chose to attend a bilingual English/Spanish church. This church contact was extended with visits in each other’s homes. When I was in junior high, my mother (my father had recently died) took me and my four siblings on a month-long trip through Mexico. Eschewing the usual tourist haunts, we stayed with friends and contacts from our previous time in Mexico. We left our car in Texas and traveled through Mexico on public trains and busses.
These experiences showed me a Mexico that is more rich and interesting than the Mexico typically seen when traveling to impoverished border towns or to isolated tourist-oriented resorts.
These early times in Mexico have been augmented by additional extended times in Latin America. In the early 1990’s my wife and I spent a month in Guatemala. On weekdays, we studied Spanish in one of the many language schools located in Antigua. On the weekends, we traveled around the country enjoying a variety of natural and cultural offerings. In 1995, my family lived in Honduras for six months while I taught at Universidad Francisco Morazán as a Fulbright Scholar. My daughter’s current love for Latin America and her facility with Spanish is partly a result of this experience.
My hope is that the Westmont in Mexico program will provide students an opportunity to appreciate the variety and depth of the Mexican culture and thereby gain a better perspective on the range of world cultures. The extended period of close contact with local people and the opportunities for reflection, travel, and study of the history and culture make the Westmont in Mexico program particularly well suited to this task. The rich history of Querétaro makes the city a perfect context.