Mackenzie Jones – JAMM Multicultural Journalism Camp
The Scholarships for Education and Economic Development Program, also known as SEED, has brought over 18 international students from seven different countries to the University of Idaho.
SEED is designed to bring selected youth from Latin American countries’ to the United States where they learn the fundamentals regarding the current changes and advances in environmental technology.
“It is an exchange program that supports leadership and youth leaders in Latin American countries,” said program co-trainer Lubia Cajas Cano. “Right now they are learning about nurseries and different environmental managing techniques. They will use what they learn to develop a project in their own countries.”
The program hosts young adults from the ages of 18 to 25. Approximately 200-300 students applied for the program in each country, however only two to four are selected for the scholarship.
SEED is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is administered by Georgetown University’s Center for Intercultural Education and Development (CIED.)
Countries participating in the program include Haiti, El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Nicaragua.
It is a two-year endeavor away from home, and the students are currently in the middle of their tenth month.
All the students in SEED agreed it is hard to be away from home for so long, but they feel strongly about their cause.
“We want to make a difference in our communities back home,” said Sabine Deristin, a student participating in the program from Haiti. Deristin noted that the 18 students selected were chosen for a reason, and they have a duty here.
“We came here as leaders to learn information about the environment, and we will take that information back to the people in our countries that trust us,” she said.
The students hope to improve the current environmental conditions in their home countries.
The students have been in the states for 19 months, and before they were placed at UI, they spent nine months in Lewiston learning English.
“Some of us knew a little English, but we didn’t have much experience with it,” said Onan Ayala, program participant.
The students have already been actively involved in different environmental management activities across the Northwest.
“After we left Lewiston, we traveled to Grand Teton National Park where we learned how to manage national parks and how to work with people. We had to write a paper about it and when we return home we must apply what we learned in America, in our countries in order to contribute to the environment,” Angel Tibuvcio, a student participant said.
Tibuvcio said the students have been heavily active in working with the on-campus nursery and the Palouse Environmental Clearwater Institute.
