Yunfei Wang from Zhengzhou, China, Travels to Guatemala for Brenau University Spanish Language Study

2012 Mar 2

Yunfei Wang from Zhengzhou, China, a Brenau University senior majoring in mass communications, traveled to Guatemala during spring break Feb. 26 - March 4 for a Brenau language immersion course in applied Spanish.

Two members of the Brenau Humanities Department faculty, Dr. George Demuyakor and Dr. Patty Webster, conducted the course. It coincided with an annual trip to the Central American country by a group of Brenau students who are working with business and charitable institutions in the emerging economy as part of the international component of their studies toward Master of Business Administration degrees.

The five undergraduates will receive credit toward their language requirement for participating in the hybrid language-learning program supplemented speech and grammar skills with a first-hand focus on the history, culture, geography and arts of the Guatemalan people.

The traveling students also volunteer to spend part of their time in the country working at an orphanage near Antigua, Guatemala, and at the Safe Passage Project (Camino Seguro), which has created a school for the families living near the infamous city dump of Guatemala City. For fun, the students were scheduled to climb the Pacaya Volcano and visit Lake Atitlan.

Students interested in Spanish study abroad next year are encouraged to contact the Brenau language faculty to explore similar options in Guatemala, Spain or Latin America.

ABOUT BRENAU – Founded in 1878, Brenau University currently enrolls about 2,800 students in graduate and undergraduate programs on campuses and online. The main campus of the Georgia-based liberal arts institution, which includes the Brenau Women's College, is in Gainesville with other campuses in Augusta, Kings Bay and in two metro Atlanta locations, Norcross and Fairburn. Brenau's 2011 ranking as one of the top 15-best higher education values in the Southeast by U.S. News & World Report marks the university's sixth consecutive year in that position for the magazine's America's Best Colleges guidebook. In 2012 Brenau online programs scored high in national rankings by U.S. News, including a #9 in the nation "Honor Roll" listing for graduate degree tracks in Brenau's College of Education. Brenau University also was granted "Honor Roll" status among the 2012 listings of the great collegesand universities to work for by The Chronicle of Higher Education and one of the best universities in the Southeast by The Princeton Review. Breanu's extraordinary learning environment also was highlighted among the Colleges of Distinction.