JEEM SCHOLAR: October 15 – November 19, 2022

Introduction

During a five-week program, the MSU College of Education, Health and Human Development will host Karla Rodriguez Sanchez from Atenas, Costa Rica. She is this year’s recipient of the JEEM Memorial Scholarship, which was established by the family of Dr. James G. Hauwiller to support international educational exchanges.

Brief Biography of Karla Rodriguez Sanchez

Karla Rodríguez Sánchez was born in the province of San José, Costa Rica. Her mother is a retired educator/elementary principal. Her father worked in the National water department. She loves to listen to music, something that she inherited from her father who was born in the Caribbean side of the country. Her love for education was seeded in her by her mother, who was a great professional in her field. 
Karla lives with Her husband, Luis, and their two children, Gabriel, and Gustavo in Atenas, Costa Rica.  Her older son is 21 years old and attends the university; her younger son is 16 years old and studies in high school. They spend time together enjoying nature., music, and their cats Mizzy, Kyra, and Tara.

Her first commitment to the English language was listening to a cassette course because she wanted extra practice. After high school, she took an advanced course at the Centro Cultural Costarricense Norteamericano, a prestigious institution in Costa Rica. Then, she studied Teaching English for primary school and graduated in 2004. In 2006, she graduated as a Kindergarten teacher.

Karla has 19 years of experience in education--teaching English at preschool and elementary levels.  Currently she teaches at Monseñor Sanabria Martínez, a rural school in a beautiful town called Atenas.  She is a member of the Costa Rican Teachers’ Association (COLYPRO). SIT TESOL certified English teacher. She is a collaborator in the design of third and fifth grade teacher´s guides, Ministry of Public Education (MEP) curriculum, and in the creation of standardized items for the national test for 5th graders: “Test for Young Learners,” University of Costa Rica.
She has been part of community projects as a bridge between English speaking countries and Costa Rica, focusing on education involving schools and teachers.  While here she wants to develop a project with culture as the foundation of exchanging traditions and customs.  She will call it: “Exchanging Culture by Learning English.”  When she returns, she will plan an Institutional English Festival with songs, rhymes, poems, plays and other activities that she observed and learned while here in Montana.

Welcome Karla to MSU, Bozeman, and Montana