Spanish and agriculture majors to study abroad in Panama

Students that are Spanish majors and minors at Southeast Missouri State University have an opportunity to go abroad to a Spanish-speaking country each year.

This year they are keeping the tradition and going to Panama in Central America. The only difference is this time is the first time agriculture students get to join them -- or study abroad at all for that matter.

Dr. Debbie Lee-DiStefano, a Spanish professor at Southeast, and Dr. Julie Weathers, an agriculture professor, will take a group of 19 students to Panama in January.

"She and I went to Panama together over the summer, and we did some scoping out," Lee-DiStefano said. "We had interviews with the ministry of agriculture of Panama, we went to the University of Panama and we met with a lot of Southeast alums that we have in Panama."

After scoping out Panama, the professors decided that it was the perfect destination for the two classes of students.

"My trip is a Spanish trip, so my students are expected to do everything in Spanish," Lee-DiStefano said. "[Weather's] trip is an agriculture trip, but it's a UI 343, it's a transcultural experience course. So my students will be helping her students with Spanish."

The students will have a chance to visit the Panama Canal, Panama City and the Panama countryside.

"We're visiting farms on the countryside," Lee-DiStefano said. "We're going to orchid farms, cattle farms, poultry farms, dairy farms, all kinds of different farms. So half of our time is going to be in the country, and half of our time is going to be in Panama City."

The agriculture students will be able to study the farms in Panama's countryside while the students studying Spanish help them with the language and practice themselves.

"It's really so they can understand that we can take farming techniques, production techniques from Panama and we can also learn from what they're doing," Lee-DiStefano said.

Lee-DiStefano said that Panama will work really well as a study abroad trip because the weather and the farms are similar to that of Missouri.

"What I learned from Dr. Weathers from when I was there is that the climate in Panama is actually quite similar to the climate in Missouri. The only difference is we have a fall, and we have a winter. They don't," Lee-DiStefano said. "But when you look at our spring and summer, it would be very similar to what Panama is. Our humidity is quite similar and the temperatures."

The products Panama produces are very similar to Missouri products as well, such as cattle and rice.

"They're going to get an idea of what it might be like to go abroad for a semester," Lee-DiStefano said. "Because our goal, at least on the Spanish side, is to get our students to go abroad for a longer period of time, so then they can really start working on the language skills."

Lee-DiStefano said that the two-week Panama trip will be primarily used for a "stepping stone" so students will feel comfortable to study abroad for a whole semester.

"Two weeks can lift them up, but it's only going to do so much," Lee-DiStefano said. "It's more of getting them to feel comfortable being around another language on a day to day basis, being misunderstood, not understanding, being in a completely different situation than what they're used to here."

Ashley Lokey, a Spanish minor, will be one of the 19 students going to Panama.

"I'm most excited to experience the culture," Lokey said. "The only country I've been to is Mexico, and I'm excited to go to another Spanish-speaking country."

Lokey plans to use this trip to get more comfortable speaking Spanish on a day-to-day basis so she can travel abroad later.

"I'm nervous about only speaking Spanish for two weeks, but at the same time I am confident that it will really help me with the Spanish language and learning about their culture," Lokey said.

Lokey said she also is excited to work with the agriculture students and learn a little bit about what they do as well.

"I'm really excited," Lee-DiStefano said. "Part of the mission of our department is to show other departments on campus that you can take students abroad and not be afraid of it. You can integrate it. We're really trying to work with the campus culture here."