Lincoln Seniors Volunteer
at the Western Farm Workers Association
SI Alumni Joseph Bittner
reports back from junior
year study abroad
Gathered in the
office of the
WFWA are (listed
more or less left
to right) Jessica
& Ester Tomas,
Members; Leecia
Anderson,
Education
Director; Aidan
Daly-Jensen and
Haley Stewart,
Volunteers;
Maria Castañeda,
Benefit Plan 2
Coordinator
Every Wednesday afternoon, Lincoln seniors Aidan Daly-Jensen and Haley
Stewart travel to a small house in downtown Hillsboro to the headquarters of
the Western Farm Workers Association as part of their senior year SI Humanidades class. The Humanidades class has a community service component and
Aidan and Haley volunteer at the WFWA, a self-help benefit program that
assists low paid workers. Many of the WFWA members are seasonal farm and
nursery workers who struggle with the gap between their wages and their basic
living expenses. For both Aidan and Haley their volunteer work at the WFWA
has special significance. For the past three summers Aidan has worked at the
cherry harvest at Hood River Cherry Company. He has learned first hand about
the lives of agricultural migrant farm workers and the barriers they have
overcome. Haley lived for two months in La Ciénega, Mexico where most of the
families had relatives working in the United States. “To be able to see both
sides of the immigration issue is really interesting and shows how complicated
the whole situation is. Some of these workers aren’t just struggling to support
their own families, but family members living in Mexico as well” says Haley.
Grants Made by Apoyemos
2006 - over $4,000 for: textbooks at
Lincoln, 7th grade social studies
textbooks at W. Sylvan, Spanish
books, charts, dictionaries, CD’s,
DVD’s and games at Ainsworth.
2007 - almost $2,000 for: books and
materials at Lincoln and W. Sylvan,
Spanish science books at Ainsworth.
2008 - over $9,000 for: textbooks at
Lincoln, reading and teacher resource
books at E/W. Sylvan, assistance for
the ACTFL Conference for staff and
Estrellita Literacy Program and other
materials at Ainsworth.
2009 - $9,000 for: books and DVDs
at Lincoln, books at E/W. Sylvan and
registration costs for an Immersion
Conference for staff at E. Sylvan and
Ainsworth.
2010 - OR Writing Project tuition for
two SI teachers. More grants to come!
Holiday Toy & Food
Drive For the Friends
of the Seasonal &
Service Workers!
For many seasonal workers the
holidays are a difficult time.
Please help by donating cash, food
or new toys to the Friends of the
Seasonal & Service Workers.
Why did you choose to go to
Barcelona? The program in Barcelona is one of the most popular at
Santa Clara University where I study
and is perfect for Business and
Spanish majors like me. I wanted to
go somewhere where I could continue
to improve my Spanish skills and I
also wanted to go to Europe so this
was perfect. I have many friends that
have studied in Barcelona and could
not say enough good things about it:
good location, amazing city, lots to do.
Catalan is spoken in Barcelona,
so do you get to really practice
your Spanish a lot? I speak Spanish everyday and all the time, interacting with people on the street, at
school, at stores, with my host family,
in daily life. Some of the signs around
the city are in Catalan but people
speak Spanish all the time.
Was it difficult to adjust to living
in Barcelona? Not much. I am
bilingual and bicultural and I knew I
would not have any trouble with the
language. The lifestyle is different in
the sense that it is slower pace, and
things don’t always happen on time,
but you just get used to it. You just
have to embrace the lifestyle and way
of doing things and immerse yourself
in it. I think I adjusted easily because
I was confident in my language
abilities and had experienced a
different way of life in another country
when I went on the 8th grade Costa
Rica trip, and on a 10-day business
immersion trip to El Salvador last
year. I feel very comfortable here and
could see myself living and working
here (for a while).
Ainsworth staff and families and
Lincoln students are gathering
food and toys between Dec. 6-17th.
The donations will be delivered to
the FSSW on Saturday, Dec. 18.
Look for more information about
how and what to donate on Big
Tent, or contact John McPhee at
[email protected]. For
more information about donating
at Lincoln, please contact Haley
Stewart at [email protected].
Supporting
Spanish Immersion in the Lincoln Cluster