Math and Science Fair

There was a math and science fair at the elementary school in Carmen Pampa this Wednesday. Juan Velasco and I wandered over to see what was going on, and we were happy to see all of the young ones doing presentations about what they have been learning. Most impressive to me was a education student from the College, Irma Callisaya, who worked with the kindergarten students to teach math operations.

"The students learn best while playing, so I invented a game where they advance on a board by rolling a die if they answer a math question corectly," she explained. The questions were either simple operations attached to balls that they took out of a box, or story problems chosen from a basket. And these very young kids could do many of the problems!

Our education students are taught to use new knowledge about how young people learn to facilitate that process. And it was obvious on Wednesday that the education department is doing its job: Irma's game was creative and effective.


Photo: Irma and her game, with a girl from the community, Katherine Aliaga.

Confirmation 2011

Confirmation is an important event at the College: students profundizar their faith, and becore more fully integrated into our faith community.
The students presented the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit as part of the ceremony: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord.

Our Bishop in the Diocese of Coroico, Juan Vargas, lead the mass.

Congratulations to them!

More of the fiesta!

Lots of excitement the past few days -- sports, cultural events and fun! The first morning was a new event, cycling.

Long jump was a new event, too.

Soccer is the perennial fave.

There was a distance run, too, about 10 km.

Futbal de salón (small-court soccer) is a very common sport at the College.

Three sisters played futbal de salón, from different majors (agronomy and vet/animal science)... and they are still smiling!

The students demonstrate incredible abilities in poetry recitation, theater, singing, lip-syncing, and more. The judges come from nearby Coroico.

Everyone eats lunch together.

And there is lots of support for the players from each department.

It has been an incredible week so far!