Coming to America
Mexican Leadership Program Exchange hosted by students

By Jennifer Koesling
Staff Reporter

For the seven students who are visiting TCU from La Universidad de las Américas in Puebla, Mexico, this week offers campus leaders an opportunity to share ideas and explore the issues related to student government.

David Dunai - Senior Photographer Berenice Ortiz, a senior industrial engineering major, and Luis Valle, a senior electrical engineering major, both from La Universidad de las Américas in Puebla, Mexico, take some time to have fun at lunch Thursday.

As part of the Mexico Leadership Program Exchange, student leaders from UDLA are hosted by TCU student leaders. The group will participate in campus activities and spend the majority of its time exchanging ideas with TCU’s Student Government Association officers, Programming Council officials and residence hall administrators.

This week’s activities will finalize the 2001 exchange between TCU and UDLA.

Students will receive a campus tour, attend a Rock to Bach class, participate in the Leadership Institute and meet with Chancellor Michael Ferrari and Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Don Mills.

Ceci Burton, a junior business management major, was one of six TCU students who traveled to Mexico in January.

“I want the UDLA students to see what we do on a day-to-day basis, and I think it is an opportunity for them to network here and have contact with our leaders through the Leadership Institute,” said Burton, who is now hosting the UDLA group.

Burton said her experience in Mexico opened her eyes to the differences between TCU’s and UDLA’s student governments.

“Students (at UDLA) only take a few classes because they are totally devoted to their job in student government,” she said.

David Dunai - Senior Photographer Deanna Bennett, a junior finance and accounting major; Judy Pennywell, assistant director of International Student Services; Sara Komenda, a sophomore biology major; Arturo Vargas, secretary of UDLA’s student government; and Jen Perry, a junior accounting and sociology major, share a laugh over lunch in the Dee J. Kelly Alumni and Visitors Center.

Unlike TCU, the students at UDLA select their representatives based on their major, said Arturo Vargas, secretary for UDLA’s student government.

“Students from each major are required to run in teams of five to fill representative positions,” Vargas said. “The top representatives are then selected individually, like (TCU’s) SGA president.”

UDLA students said they are looking forward to seeing how TCU’s system works and what roles the students play.

“We see some of the same problems of communication and integration,” Berenice Ortiz, a senior industrial engineering major at UDLA, said.

“And that is why we are looking forward to all these experiences.”

Jennifer Koesling
j.c.koesling@student.tcu.edu