Heberto

This week, another graduate! Heberto Yañez looked at planting techniques for the Andean root racacha (Arracacia xanthorriza), and confirmed that growing racacha in small nursery beds and later transplanting it produces a better crop.

Heberto worked closely with farmers from the nearby community of San Juan de la Miel, working as a true extensionist. Here are the farmers planting the nursery with Heberto.



He also met with the farmers to discuss how the experiment was progressing, and shared his results with the farmers at the end of the experiment so that they could take advantage of the results.



And here are some roots ready to cook and eat.

(Photos courtesy of Heberto.)

We ate racacha last night! It's like a cross between a parsnip and a carrot. And it is a crop that diversifies the farms of the region, helping stabilize the income of our local farmers due to fluxuating market prices for crops.

Meetings

There is a saying that you could spend all day, every day in meetings at work. Well, we don't have time for that many meetings -- we're too busy being teacher, parent and friend to the students in our care.

But we do have meetings. Yesterday, we had a meeting of the Consejo Superior, made up of the directors of all of the majors, the religious department, the research institute, the development man, human resources, yours truly and our Director Father Freddy. The topics ranged from academics to fund-raising, day-to-day communication to long-range planning.

Father Freddy is big about teamwork. "If we cannot communicate and work as a team, none of us are effective," he said.

We have come a long way with Father Freddy. Priests are not trained to be university administrators at seminary. And Sister Damon's shoes were hard to fill. But Father Freddy has shown that we can all work and grow together, and his vision for the College, which has evolved as we have grown to over 700 students this year, has helped us meet the challenges that come with growth and change.

Juan Carlos Paco

Yesterday, a "long lost" student graduated, Juan Carlos Paco. He started at the College in 1999, ten years ago. Since then, his brother Gabriel started and finished his studies, and another brother Walter is currently in the Education department.

Juan Carlos has been working with an NGO to help farmers on the Altiplano improve their farming practices -- in fact, his research was about how to improve quinoa production, an Andean seed related to lambsquarter, spinach and beets (it's genus name, Chenopodium, means goosefoot because of the shape of the leaves).

Juan Carlos expects to continue to work with farmers on the Altiplano.


Photo: Juan Carlos signs the official graduation document.

First Education Graduate

Today was a first for the College: Paola Surco was our first graduate in the Education Department.

"Paola, I know that you have struggled to come this far," said Education Department Director Andrés Pardo. "It is never easy to break a new path. But you have cleared the way for many more future professionals, and we all thank you for that."


Photo: Education Department Director Andrés Pardo talks about this historic moment at the College.

Paola's research was about how parents and teachers teach elementary school students about gender, and questions about sexuality. She found that young children identify their parents as the source of information about questions like, "Where do babies come from?" but that parents perceived the schools are being the primary sources of this information.

It was an emotional moment for all as she spoke of the love and support she felt at the College, noting that Sister Damon was her inspiration. "I cannot believe that I got to know such an incredible woman," she said through tears.

We are all very proud of Paola, and know that she will do good things, carrying forward the mission of the College. "You have come far," said Father Freddy. "Recoginze that. And then go further. Go out into the world and create that change that we all know is possible."


Photo: Paola stands with her mother and father, copy of her research in hand.

Presentation at Ecology Conference

Thursday, the College presented a talk at an ecology conference. Miguel Manrique, the student coordinator of our insect diversity project, presented research we are doing with collaborators from Brigham Young University. Miguel did a short talk about the diversity of insect families in our cloud forest Uchumachi.

The conference was in honor of the 30th anniversary of the State University's Instituto de Ecología.

Event in La Paz

Last night, the College invited people from the government and non-governmental agencies to an event held at Catholic University of Bolivia in La Paz. People from different government ministries and some national NGOs came for a few words from our people, music and food. It was a nice time, and our name is getting out there like never before.

Here is Carlos, a Bolivian television personality (and former professor at the College) who MCed the event.



One of the musical surprises was the Saya, a traditional dance done in Afro-bolivian communities, done here by some students from the College.

Author in our midst

When I came to the College in 1999, Dr. David Coria was the Director of the Vet and Animal Science Department. He was like a father to all the students there, caring deeply for each of the young people in his department. He left in 2002 to become a founding professor at the Universidad Pública y Autónoma de El Alto. In 2006 he died of gastrointestinal complications, leaving behind a wife and son, and many brothers and sister.

One brother, Alfredo, followed in David's footsteps, becoming a veterinarian, and later a professor at the College. Before David's death, he and Alfredo were working on a textbook about animal anatomy. Alfredo finished the book and published it, and presented it today in a small ceremony with all of our Vet and Animal Science students.

"My brother was an advocate of students swimming in information," said Alfredo. "I hope that this book will help you become the professionals that you dream of becoming."


Photo: Vet Director Martín Morales and Author Dr. Alfredo Coria with a copy of his newly published book Bases de Anatomía en Medicina Veterinaria y Zootecnia, Vol. 1.