Local Teacher To Impart Education Expertise Overseas

SPRING HILL - It's the type of poverty that can be difficult to imagine.

In the rural mountain village of Agalta Valley, Honduras, many children have no running water in their homes and attend one overcrowded school, with teachers who have often never been to college.

But one local teacher is about to make the situation a little better.

Spring Hill resident Libia Colon, who taught kindergarten at Spring Hill Elementary School this past year but will switch the Explorer K-8 in the fall, will travel to the area this week through an international outreach program at the University of South Florida Saint Petersburg.

She is part of a small group of Tampa-area elementary school teachers - and the only teacher from Hernando County - who will spend the next week helping to enhance educational programs in the village, located in the northeast area of the country.

"In this area, the elementary school teachers don't necessarily have college degrees, and they don't have computers or the means to teach these children," Colon said. "In some classes, they may have 40 children in a classroom. Our goal is to show them some strategies that will increase student engagement and see what they (most) need help with."

To get to the village, the teachers will fly into San Pedro Sula and endure an 11-hour bus ride along crumbling roads to a ranch owned by the Georgia-based group Honduras Outreach, where they will sleep for the week.

Each morning, they will take another hour-long bus ride to the school, which has been built by the same group. Teachers and doctors from the U.S. have been traveling to the village weekly, helping the villagers establish self-sufficiency and sustainability.

"The poverty is just absolutely incredible, and yet the people are so happy," Colon said. "They are very proud, but they welcome any help they can get."

Originally from Columbia, Colon speaks Spanish fluently. She first heard about the trip after receiving a personal invitation from Vivian Fueyo, dean of the college of education at USF St. Petersburg, where Colon earned her bachelor's degree.

"I thought, 'Wow, (this) sounds really interesting,'" Colon said. "It's not a tourist vacation. This is a work trip."

She later learned that she will earn three graduate-level course credits for the trip, which has also consisted of intensive course work surrounding the educational conditions the teachers will encounter and will include follow-up work to determine how to improve the area's teaching practices.

Friday, Colon was busy packing. She also obtained appropriate vaccinations and began taking anti-malaria medication, which are both recommended for travel to Honduras.

While she has never been to the country, she said she already feels passionate about the mission and hopes to return soon.

"I'm excited. Before, I had been so busy with end-of-school stuff that I didn't have time to think about it, but now I hope to take some great pictures and hopefully, encourage other teachers to go and help (when I get back)," she said.

"From what I hear about the needs they have, I wish we could stay a month - but I hope we can get a lot accomplished and help them while we're there," Colon added.

The trip is being paid for by USF St. Petersburg and Honduras Agalta Valley Education, a nonprofit foundation established by Tampa-area philanthropist Gerry Hogan.

The organization, known as HAVE, has worked to improve educational opportunities in the Agalta Valley for more than a decade.

Reporter Linnea Brown can be reached at 352-544-5289 or lbrown@hernandotoday.com.