Greetings from Oaxaca!
Thought you'd enjoy these two images -- Fran in her PJ's laboring over a school project and me celebrating, a bit early, my birthday, thanks to a surprise delivery from my neighbor, Susanna. Yep. It's the big 70.
I am taking off for 3 weeks in the States from March 18 to April 10, and Fran will be holding down the fort. During that time I'll be having a meeting about Fran's future after getting her undergraduate degree, as of June 2018.
Getting her school to commit to anything, including graduation dates is a slippery and frustrating endeavor, but as soon as we have narrowed it down, we will send you all a heartfelt invitation via this blog. So stay tuned! We hope you can come to help Fran celebrate. More on that as we get closer to the occasion.
Meanwhile, Fran and I and a few others have put some thought into her trajectory after graduation, and have made a plan, based on what we know about the requirements she will face once graduate school begins.
First and foremost is the requirement that she must be completely fluent in English, enough to read principle texts, write papers, and take examinations in the language. She will, by our estimation, need at least 18 months of additional English classes, focused and intense, to reach the needed level. There is no sense in her rushing into graduate school without enough English proficiency.
Here are the main points of the plan that are known at this time.
Fran needs to continue with her Berlitz classes, seamlessly after graduation, for 12 to 18 months, between June 2018 and June or December 2019.
She will, for all or part of that time, be living on her own, paying rent, and working full time.
She will need her tuition and books to Berlitz paid for.
In approximately September or January 2019, she will start graduate school at a well-respected institution near Mexico City, in agronomy. That program will last 3 years, until 2022, and we are looking for funding for that -- details to be provided later.
Bottom line, I am asking for two pieces of information from each of her supporters:
1) I am asking those of you who have been sending Fran you support, to confirm if you are willing to continue your present level of support, from now until her graduation in June 2018.
THEN,
2. Do you anticipate that you would be willing to continue your support for her transition into living independently in Oaxaca, finding a job, and attending English classes at Berlitz through June 2019 or as long as through December 2019.
Please let me hear from you so we can work to prepare Fran for this transitional level of her education and beyond. You can send me an email at lcassady@gmail.com. Any and all questions are welcome, and I will be sure to get back to you.
I also wanted you to know that Fran is so aware of how you have changed her life...and for the first time, yesterday, she expressed interest in ultimately pursuing her Ph.D. That would not only change her life, it would change the aspirations of indigenous women throughout Mexico. It's that rare.
Besos and abrazos from Oaxaca!
Lorena and Fran
