FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS READY TO RETURN HOME, BEGIN NEW CAREERS

When Ruben Mazariegos returns to his native Guatemala as an industrial arts teacher, his job of educating the children of his village will not be easy. His hometown of Rio Dulce is a small village in the jungle with dirt roads. There are no computers and the library has few books.

The country has an illiteracy rate of 49 percent, which Mazariegos said is an improvement. In 1980, the illiteracy rate was 55 percent, he said.

Mazariegos and 11 other Central American students were honored Sunday by the faculty and administration of Southeast Missouri State University. The Fulbright Scholars, have been studying at the university for 2 1/2 years, and will graduate at the end of the current semester. A twelfth student graduated in December.

Katia Torres, a biology major with an emphasis in ecology, expressed some sadness at having to leave the wonderful people she met in Southeast Missouri to return to Costa Rica where she will work in environmental education.

Panamanian native Karen Romero has perhaps the best reason to be excited about returning to her homeland. Her husband remained there while she was studying in this country to be an elementary school teacher.

But all three -- Mazariegos, Torres and Romero -- are eager to graduate and return to their homes in Central America.

The Central American Program of Undergraduate Scholarships, known as CAMPUS '96, began on the Southeast campus in January 1996, as an upper division program for academically talented Central American students. It is funded through the Fulbright Program.

Bringing the Fulbright Scholars program to the campus was part of a dream of Dr. Adelaide Parsons from the university's English department. Growing up in Jackson, Parsons had her first encounter with an international student when she was 9 years old. When she returned to Southeast, her desire was to bring a quality international program to the campus.

Under Parsons' leadership, the university received a grant from the United States Information Agency, the part of the U. S. State Department which funds and administers the Fulbright scholarships. Only 11 percent of universities that apply receive the USIA grant. Only four schools were given grants in the Central American program.

The program was designed in the mid-1980s after officials in the state department noticed that countries from the Soviet-bloc were offering educational opportunities for Central American students to study in Eastern Europe. The U.S. State Department implemented a similar program to help promote democracy and free trade in the same countries, Parsons said.

"They'll go back home and impart those values to their country," she said.

Only five percent of the people who apply to be students through the program were actually chosen. Their selection was based on a number of factors, including their language learning ability, their socio-economic background and their educational promise and leadership skills.

"These students are from very humble backgrounds who are brought to the United States to finish their education," Parsons said, adding that they are the best and brightest of their countries, the leaders of tomorrow.

The 12 students brought to the Southeast campus through the program were from Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Panama, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

"I am so happy to be headed home," said Ruben Mazariegos as he talked about his village in Guatamela.

During his stay in this country, Mazariegos has actively tried to get books to take home to the libraries of his country and to raise money to buy computers for his people.

"I am prepared to help my people. I want to know what I can do for them, not what they can do for me," he said, echoing the words of John F. Kennedy.

"Didn't an American president say that?" Katia Torres asked.

They both smiled.