The vibrant community of faculty, staff and students involved with the BESITOS program, a federally funded Title III grant, had a reunion on May 18 to observe the program’s 15 years of success. The event, in conjunction with the college’s graduation ceremony, brought together current and past graduates to celebrate their academic and professional accomplishments.
BESITOS has provided elementary and secondary education degrees and study abroad opportunities to bilingual and culturally diverse students since 1998. This unique program model has more than 170 graduates and has significantly increased the number of bilingual educators across the state of Kansas.
Pedro Espinoza, associate director of recruitment and retention for the Center for Intercultural and Multilingual Advocacy, or CIMA, looked forward to this celebratory event.
“This reunion meant a lot to all former and current BESITOS students,” he said. “This was a great opportunity for everyone to meet in one place and share their success stories. For some, it was an opportunity to meet with their former cooperating teachers and advisors and thank them personally for their support during their educational journey while at Kansas State University.”
The reunion was a success. It was an honor to listen to words of wisdom from Dean Mercer, Dean Holen and Dean of Students Pat Bosco.
I also enjoyed visiting with friends I hadn’t seen in years. It seems they are all doing great things and helping many students in their schools and communities.