Celebrating 30 years of creating opportunities through language education

Surrounded by her family, Sylvia Roque smiled as she was presented with a certificate honoring her as the 50,000th student to complete the English as a Second Language program at the Don Bosco Centers.

Don Bosco recognized Roque at a reception last week that was part of a larger celebration of the organization’s 70th anniversary. For 30 of those years, Metropolitan Community College has collaborated with Don Bosco to deliver an ESL program on the city’s northeast side. It has become the metro’s largest and most successful program of its kind.

“We’re proud of the MCC instructors who have been so committed to teaching our community’s English language learners,” said MCC Chancellor Mark James, as he addressed the reception audience. “Language is the basis for a meaningful life; it’s what allows us to be successful with employment, relationships and other aspects of our lives. I am inspired by the difference that the ESL program has made and the opportunities it has created in our community.”

In addition to its ESL center, the Don Bosco Centers operates five other interrelated community centers where they deliver a wide variety of programs and services with a goal of empowering the people of Kansas City’s Northeast community. MCC-Penn Valley, which offers a wide variety of programs for English language learners, has been a collaborative partner for three decades.

MCC-Longview hosts international delegation from West Bank

Hebron University Professor Ahmad Elatawneh presents MCC-Longview President Fred Grogan with a gift after his presentation on Thursday.

Usually, summer campus tours are reserved for prospective students.

But on Thursday, June 24, MCC-Longview faculty and staff welcomed to campus a delegation of students and professors from the West Bank, as they travel across the country learning about the United States and how colleges and universities here operate successful English as a Second Language programs.

“We are proud to be here and thank you for inviting us to learn so we can take these lessons home for our own students and children,” professor Ahmad Elatawneh said. Elatawneh teaches applied linguistics at Hebron University.

Many in the delegation, which had been invited to the country and MCC-Longview by the U.S. State Department are English teachers in the West Bank and were anxious to hear about some of the award-winning ESL programs MCC-Longview has hosted in recent years.

“There visit reinforces our college’s effort to expand what we provide to students in a global education and understanding of the world,” MCC-Longview president Fred Grogan said. “It is also a great opportunity for our faculty and staff in the ESL program to highlight their enormous success.”

MCC-Longview was only one stop on the group’s cross-country tour. Mark Sullivan, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said the group had already toured Washington, D.C., and several other universities in the area. After a stop in Seattle, he said, they were then heading to Orlando to visit Disney World.

“The program we have put together is a way to show them the country and give them a chance to see our culture first-hand,” Sullivan said.

While at MCC-Longview, the delegation took several faculty-guided tours here and were given extensive briefings by staff about the English as a Second Language (ESL) , Academic Bridges for Learning Excellence (ABLE) and and First Learning Year Team (FLYT) programs. During Grogan’s welcome and introductions, the delegation presented him with a scarf marked with the Palestinian colors as a token of their appreciation for opening up the campus to their visit.



MCC-Longview President Fred Grogan speaks to the delegation of teachers and professors about the campus and its award-winning ESL programs.