I am proud to report that our deepening ties with Mexico continue to result in additional support for our students. Yesterday Mexico’s ambassador to the United States presented the College with an $80,000 award to fund scholarships for immigrants and Americans of Mexican origin.
The funds were presented by Ambassador Carlos Manuel Sada Solana during a brief ceremony at the Mexican Consulate in Tucson. It was an honor to meet the ambassador, and the College is grateful he made time in a busy schedule for PCC.
Kudos to Dr. Ricardo Castro-Salazar, Vice President for International Development, and his team at the Center for International Education and Global Engagement for making the meeting happen.
The support for PCC comes from the Institute for Mexicans Abroad (IME), which is part of Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Relations. This is the third grant PCC has received from IME since November 2014, bringing the total for scholarships to $260,000. As Ambassador Sada stated while praising community colleges for preparing students for transfer or employment, “There is no greater legacy than education.”
November has been particularly fruitful for the College’s multifaceted relationship with Mexico. On Nov. 19, a group of 25 college students from Mexico graduated from a four-week PCC program featuring English as a Second Language instruction and cultural enrichment. It was the fourth group we have hosted in the past two years as part of the Proyecta 100,000 program of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations.
As Vice President of Instruction and Transfer Pathways Dr. Gregg Busch told the graduates, learning a foreign language is essential to building relationships and opens a window to new cultures. The College is committed to enhancing bi-national connections that benefit our diverse region.