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Universal language: how teaching music in rural Namibia was a life-changing experience for Jessa Delos Reyes ’24 Posted by: Zach Powers / April 16, 2024 Image: Jessa Delos Reyes ’24 is a music education major from Tacoma. (Photo by Sy Bean/PLU) April 16, 2024 By Emily Holt, MFA '16PLU Marketing & Communications Guest Writer When the principal of N/a’an ku sê, a rural school in Namibia that serves the San people, asked PLU music education major Jessa Delos Reyes ’24 to expand their existing

girl, but when she started high school, it began to hit home just what being an undocumented student meant. A driver’s license was out of the question. So was applying for student loans. The thought of paying for a college education seemed impossible. “I couldn’t apply for financial aid, so it just seemed out of reach,” she said. But when the Minds Matter tutors came to her school to offer any sophomore, free of charge, an intense three-year tutoring program—with the caveat that they must show for

. Student Fellowship program. Since 1975, PLU has had 79 Fulbright recipients. So, why is PLU so good at getting Fulbright scholarships? “That PLU ranked so high testifies not only to the quality of PLU, but to the quality of a liberal arts education,” said Troy Storfjell, assistant professor of languages and literatures, and for several years, the university’s Fulbright program adviser. “The Fulbright Fellowship is an ideal match with the global focus of this university,” he added. It is not that PLU

taught English and expanded his linguistic abilities and cultural knowledge. Returning to the U.S., he started teaching Spanish at Highline Public Schools’ Raisbeck Aviation High School in Tukwila. His passion evolved into something else: a desire to become not just a bilingual educator, but a bilingual educational leader. That goal led him to Pacific Lutheran University’s principal preparation program. The program helped him land a job in the Lake Washington School District as an elementary

including Frank Kline, Dean of the School of Education and Kinesiology; Terry Miller, Dean of the School of Nursing; and Matt Smith, Dean of the Division of Natural Sciences.  In addition, President Thomas Krise and his wife, Patty, hosted a dinner in honor of the Namibians at Gonyea House. But it was Edwin Tjiramba’s powerful connection to PLU that made this global homecoming an uncommon treat. He first arrived at PLU in 1990 through an educational program initiated by the Lutheran Church in the newly

expanded … well … exponentially. “I thought it was fascinating seeing how everything is connected through math,” Ball said. When Ball first came to PLU, he wanted to major in engineering, but after taking physics and giving thought to his life after college, he decided engineering wasn’t for him. Ball is now enrolled in PLU’s graduate education program, working to earn a master’s degree in secondary education. He hopes to teach high-school math first and eventually become a college professor. “It came

on a full scholarship- an opportunity I never imagined possible. I had never seen an opera until I was in one my freshman year. I took music classes, but also many dance and acting classes too as I was a music theater major for a time. I ended up getting my degree in Music Education and taught high school and junior high for a year before starting a graduate program at the University of Colorado, Boulder. I started teaching on the voice faculty at PLU as an adjunct lecturer in 1989, immediately

to making education their career wasn’t clear, but no matter when a passion for teaching is discovered that spark must be present, the panelists agreed. “I believe the spark was already in me when I was conceived,” Gordan said, a teacher at Mt. Tahoma High School. “It’s something you are born with. It comes from within.” Although Gordan knew teaching was something he always wanted to do, for others it was far from their minds when they entered college. “I didn’t want to work in education

memories. I was also able to study away twice during J-terms, in England and than in Germany and Poland. I really value these experiences, and I loved the opportunity to see new parts of the world. What’s next? After graduation, I will be contenting my education at PLU in the Masters in Education program. I will be taking classes for a year, and will be doing student teaching in a local high school. After that I hope to teach high school history. Callie Rae Moothart, Bachelor of Arts in religion with

town to PLU really broadened my understanding of myself and my understanding of other people. It’s teaching me how to be a better nurse and a better person in general because of that growth. Global education and travel does that on a larger scale."- Grace Zimmerman '18 “I know that dreaming big was definitely a struggle in high school,” she said. “I’m lucky to have made it to PLU, and I think my dreams have gotten a lot bigger and wider.” At PLU, about 50 percent of students study away at some