International Insights: A Carlos Rosario Delegation Visits El Salvador

A group of teachers and staff from Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School have come into the new semester with a deeper understanding of the school’s Salvadoran student population.

This past summer, six members of Carlos Rosario PCS community travelled to El Salvador to learn more about the country where the majority of its students come from. The 10-day trip, coordinated in partnership with the nonprofit Voices on the Border, provided an opportunity for the delegation to hear from community leaders, historians, teachers, families and many other community members about life in El Salvador.

“I definitely brought back a completely better sense of what our Salvadoran students have overcome to make it to the US and also what traumas could be lingering and complicating their education,” wrote Lindsey Crifasi, a technology lab teacher, on the group’s blog.

The delegation got to experience different parts of the country, from the capital of San Salvador to the rural Bajo Lempa. In the capital, they learned about gang violence from expert Jeanne Rikkers; visited the Universidad Centroamericana, site of a massacre during the civil war; heard about the education system from the Vice Minister of Education and teacher union leaders; and got a firsthand account of the civil war from Miguel Ventura, a former priest who lived with guerrillas during the conflict.

“The organization that we went with had such strong relationships with community members, they facilitated trust and openness,” said Caitlin Tromiczak, one of the Carlos Rosario delegates. “They were able to connect us with people willing to share with us very personal view points and experiences that on our own we would not have been able to elicit.”

At Bajo Lempa they visited schools, and saw in action the education system that so many Carlos Rosario students come from. Host families in Amando Lopez, the town where they stayed, opened their doors for the delegation and shared personal stories of migration, the civil war and life in the town.

For Caitlin, a mental health counselor at the School, it was important to understand how migration impacts the families that many students have to leave behind. “From conversations with people we met I got a lot of ideas about what may be happening with some of our students’ families. I gained additional context that will help me empower students to process their own experiences,” she said.

The delegation maintained a blog throughout the trip where they shared more insights and lessons learned. You can find it here. 

A group of teachers and staff from Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School have come into the new semester with a deeper understanding of the school’s Salvadoran student population.