Leadership

 

Many people take much of a lifetime to discover where their passions and abilities converge. For Gary Titus, it was self-evident from early adolescence. Organizing people into effective groups pursuing socially constructive purposes.

 

He spent many years working in the Bay Area, organizing a church-related collective, cooperative food stores, day care for working mothers, support groups for young families, and mental health services and AIDS.

 

When he retired in 1992 and came to Oaxaca (supposedly for four months), he never left. For the next ten years, Gary lived in the barrio of Xochimilco. His time in Oaxaca had brought him face-to-face with the need of Mexican students for extra tutoring as they struggled to get ahead through education. In Xochimilco, he turned his front room into a study area, sheltered and mentored two live-in students, and began to talk more systematically with students.

 

In 2002, he found himself the beneficiary of a small inheritance from an aunt.

 

“That was the missing ingredient,” Gary says. “I could now look for larger quarters and organize an actual Centro de Aprendizaje, a Learning Center that could take in more young people, offer them, free, the extra tutoring they needed to get through their studies and also provide good jobs for college students.

 

In 2005, the Centro opened on Murguia, incorporating a Bed & Breakfast into its operation to help pay the bills. Several hundred students have now moved through the Center, achieving educational goals that, without the Center’s help, would most likely have remained beyond their reach.

 

Jaasiel Quero Llaven assumed the role of Program Director in 2007, and brought with him experience in educational counseling, a university diploma in accounting, a Masters Degree in Education, and teaching experience that ranged all the way from the secondary level in the remote mountains to the university level in the city. He was no stranger to the Center, having worked with Gary for many years before and having been associated with the Center since its founding. Early in 2010 Jaasiel handed over the directorship to Sonia Leon Bautista, although he remains president of the non-profit organization.

 

It was Jaasiel who recommended Sonia as his replacement for the half-time leadership position and ensured that there was a smooth transition. Sonia grew up speaking Zapotec as well as Spanish in the village of Santa María Josaá, deep in the Sierra Norte. “It’s four hours on a dirt road until you finally hit pavement, and then another hour to Oaxaca,” Sonia said. An outstanding student, she completed her high school studies in the Sierra Norte on a scholarship from the Casa de Mujeres, an activist women’s center in the city, and then came to Oaxaca to attend a teachers university.

 

Sonia’s first experience with the Learning Center was a job cleaning the Bed and Breakfast and gardening. At the same time, she was awarded a scholarship from the Oaxaca Lending Library to learn computer skills. Later, when she entered the Universidad Pedogogico Nacional (UPN) to major in new educational processes (licenciada en intervención educativa), Sonia became a tutor. In 2008 she was named the coordinator of the satellite Learning Center in Lomas de San Jacinto. In 2009 she returned to the downtown facility to become coordinator of the women’s support group and the work/study program.

 

Sonia graduates from the UPN this June and is setting up a consulting firm with two colleagues, including Mirell Duarte, her replacement as coordinator of the work/study program.

 

Meet the Coordinators

 

Alejandra Hernández,
Women’s Support Group Coordinator
The Women’s Group at the Oaxaca Learning Center is composed of both tutors and students. “Our focus is on gender issues in general, but especially on topics important to young women, “ Alejandra explained.

 

Alejandra’s responsibilities extend beyond the group itself. Machismo in its many forms, including an educational preference among many families for their male children, is still a part of Mexican life. Alejandra organizes workshops and seminars for the Center’s students and tutors that address gender sensitivity, violence in the home, and questions of equality.

 

Armando Carmona Cruz,
Learning Center Coordinator
Armando is in charge of the smooth functioning of the Learning Center, the training and performance of the tutors, intake and monitoring of students and the maintenance of the physical space.

 

Armando meets with each potential student and their parents to explain how the Learning Center works and how it can help the student. “I make a verbal agreement with each new student that he or she will come for at least a month,” Armando said. “Our goal is to improve study habits and skills, and the student is not going to see improvement in less time than that.”

 

Uriel García Santiago,
English Program Coordinator
This is Uriel’s second year in charge of the English program. Last year, he introduced a standardized curriculum—developed specifically for the Center by Vincent Meis, Professor of ESL Studies at San Francisco Community College— for the various class levels, so that there would be continuity of learning as the volunteer teachers came and went.

 

Uriel’s other responsibilities include teacher selection and training, developing learning assignments for students, coordination of classes and evaluation, along with developing extra-curricular activities and scheduling students and guests for English/Spanish intercambios, or language exchange sessions.

 

Edith López Nicolás,
Psychological Counseling Coordinator
Edith, a former tutor at the Learning Center, earned a degree in psychology and now provides counseling services to Center students. “It might be a question of self-esteem, behavioral problems or counseling in career issues,” Edith said. “Whatever the problem,” the key is to gain the confidence of the student.”

 

Counseling support is not typically available in public educational institutions in Oaxaca, so Edith’s work with the Center’s students offers them a unique advantage. Students are referred to her by the tutors, since they have the best opportunity of observing student behavior and noting possible problems.

 

Jessica Montaño Zamora,
Communications Coordinator
Jessica is responsible for communicating the Center’s activities and services via various media to reach students in need. She also is focusing on identifying and forming relationships with other service organizations in the city and state which could be of help to the Center’s students.

 

“Being part of the Learning Center has been an unforgettable experience for me. Its values, knowledge base and sense of sharing are just incredible, “ Jessica said. “I want to help make that experience available to others.”

Mirell Duarte Mendez,
Work/Study Coordinator
The Center finds generous donors to help meet the students’ living and school expenses, so that they can concentrate on their studies (see Update on Work/Study program).

 

“At the heart of my responsibilities as coordinator is to support the work/study students in their academic achievement, with the goal of raising their grade-point average to 8.5.” Mirell said. “I can call upon the Center’s tutors to help me in that.”

 

“I also make sure they get the psychological support they need, and we organize workshops and other group activities as social experiences for the participants. I feel I’m learning from them just as they are learning from me.”

 

For Mirell, the Oaxaca Learning Center is a unique place; not just a tutoring center but a holistic facility with comprehensive programs to address its participants’ gamut of needs.