Three 2013 Graduates from ESU to Travel to Spain to Serve as Ambassadors of the North American Language and Culture

Three 2013 graduates of East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania (ESU) have each received a prestigious scholarship from the Ministry of Education in Spain to serve as ambassadors of the North American language and culture. The students, Sara Czyz, Stacy Gray, and Daniel Rosenberg, will teach English to K-12 students in Spain from October 1, 2013 through May 31, 2014. All three received degrees from ESU in Spanish. Additionally, Czyz received a degree in business management and Gray was awarded a degree in communication studies.

During the summer of 2012, Esther Daganzo-Cantens, Ph.D., assistant professor of Spanish in the ESU Department of Modern Languages, organized her third Summer Study Abroad program in Spain. The program introduces students to a foreign culture and language. For many students, it is their first time out of the country and their first immersion into another culture. For Czyz, Gray and Rosenberg, it served as a gateway to a full year in Spain.

The three fell in love with the country and wanted to return and spend more time there. Dr. Daganzo-Cantens, a native of Spain, encouraged them to apply to serve as Cultural Ambassadors of the North American Language and Culture Assistants in Spain. With Daganzo-Cantens’ guidance, the three students decided to apply for a year-long, fully funded scholarship offered by the Ministry of Education of Spain. Czyz, Gray and Rosenberg all received the highly competitive scholarship and are off to Spain in September 2013.

Each student is assigned to a specific public school within a region of Spain. They will stay and work in their assigned school for the entire school year. This will allow them to get to know the local population and establish life-long friendships with Spanish colleagues and friends.

Rosenberg will travel to Castilla-León, Gray will go to Murcia, and Czyz will go to Galicia. They will each work at a public school where they will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the Spanish culture, perfect their Spanish-speaking skills, and form new and life-long friendships with Spanish colleagues and local residents. They will also have an opportunity to travel through Europe and become more globally oriented citizens.

The Cultural Ambassador Program also will count as the equivalent to 12 graduate credits in Spanish. Students who received the scholarship can renew it for a second year and they will be given first priority.

“I am very excited that we have three students from ESU and from our Modern Languages Department representing the United States in my native country of Spain,” said Daganzo-Cantens. “I am certain that they will make us proud. This experience will be a once-in-a-life-time opportunity for them that they will cherish for the rest of their lives.”

For more information about the scholarship program or the ESU Department of Modern Languages, please contact Daganzo-Cantens at 570-422-3199 or by email at edcantens@esu.edu

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