How a Mayfield Spanish class became part of a “Global Brigade”

When Spanish 4 teacher Kathleen Costello thinks about her language instruction, she doesn’t just focus on the nuts and bolts: grammar, syntax and vocabulary. She wants to engage her students in subject material that stimulates their curiosity and gives them opportunities to have more immersive experiences. Ms. Costello explains that her teaching “is always bigger than the classroom programs.”
Perhaps this worldview and approach to her subject material is why Ms. Costello first encountered the Global Brigade program. Global Brigades is a non-profit organization that describes their mission to “empower communities to reduce inequities.” The organization started as a student-led one, when medical students from Marquette University went to provide medical relief in Honduras in 2004, in partnership with Sor María Rosa Leggol and local Honduran organization, Sociedad Amigos de los Niños (SAN). Eventually Global Brigade stopped solely focusing on short term medical relief but on the underlying issues causing and relating to the health challenges, and specifically addressing community needs such as Public Health, Human Rights, Microfinance, Architecture and Environmental issues. This nonprofit uses somewhat of a crowd-sourced model for their approach, still involving participation of students internationally. Global Brigade “squads” operate in 5 countries in the world, recruiting talent from more than 500 universities and high schools. They explain that each squad is “one critical piece of a larger system for sustainable development…to work collaboratively with community leaders to improve health, education and economic outcomes year-round.”

Ms. Costello notes that students and classes that tend to gravitate towards working with Global Brigades are often medical students, engineering students and/or finance students. But Ms. Costello felt there was no reason that a Spanish class couldn’t be part of a “Health Squad '' too. She knows the members of her class well and has taught many of them in years past. She knew several had a passion for environmental issues and others who were business-minded. And as Mayfield students, she knew that any project that focused on providing service to those in most need would be an incredibly motivating factor. Ms. Costello knows that when these students go to university, some “will never take another Spanish class,” but, in working with Global Brigades, she hoped to expose her students about “how to use Spanish in meaningful ways.”

Meaningful ways indeed! 12 Mayfield students in Spanish 4 connected with several Global Brigade liaisons, and began their 6-week initiative in the rural community of El Caragual, Honduras—all over Zoom. Often the students interacted with Jose Alvarez, an energetic and charismatic coordinator. Their initiative tended to focus on clean water access and sanitation needs. And the Mayfield students directly interviewed community members in El Caragual about what they felt their most urgent issues were.

One of these earliest interactions stuck with Ms. Costello. Once the Zoom call connected, she noticed that every person on the video chat — young and old, student or adult, Honduran or American— were all female. Women were tackling the important issues, women were the problem-solvers. And in fact, one of the issues discussed directly dealt with child-rearing challenges and the potential gender-based violence: a latrine. Because of the lack of running water and limited resources in the village, private bathrooms are hardly the norm. So most community members—women and children included—utilized outdoor spaces for all of their sanitary needs. Women alone outside were vulnerable to a potential threat. And women with their children wanted a place to change their baby’s diapers, or clean their children after they had been playing with their kids. The Mayfield tele-squad was able to relay the concerns to the Global Brigade team, and they understood that the enclosed latrine would provide much more privacy and security—and was something the entire community could benefit from.

Jose Alvarez was incredibly enthusiastic about the result of the Mayfield tele-squad, saying they “went head-to-head with these university students we work with!”

And although several Mayfield students expressed their concerns about the collaboration early on—Would their language skills be strong enough? How could a high school class actually be of use to a village thousands of miles away?—these doubts evaporated over time.  “The project has taught me to never doubt myself and my abilities,” says Alexa Valenzuela’ 22. “The experience has allowed for me to gain more confidence, in both myself and my peers, which strengthened my collaboration skills.” 

Ariana Dalie ‘22 shared a similar sentiment. “Our Global Brigades Project was both educational and impactful,” she says “It was so amazing getting to speak with a community across the globe in Honduras and find solutions that pertained to the issues which affected them directly.”

COVID-19 changed the way Mayfield students performed acts of service, and also changed the way Mayfield instructors teach. And although Ms. Costello might have stumbled on to Global Brigades in a period outside the pandemic as well, it was certainly an opportune time to experiment with a new model. This project concluded back in November 2021, but Head of School Kate Morin was thrilled with the outcome of this pilot program. “This is the kind of love in action that Holy Child schools are all about’ she says. “This initiative had a clear, academic purpose but it also had service at its core.”

Ms. Costello was incredibly proud of the work done by her class, and certainly would consider a program like this in the future. Perhaps after the COVID-19 landscape changes, Mayfield might not simply engage in tele-squads but in on-the-ground work as well. Regardless, Ms. Costello’s biggest take-away was about the interactions she observed between the Mayfield community and the community members El Caragual. Seeing “women connecting with each other, genuinely interested in each other and collaborating with each other” made the world feel a little smaller, and a bit more kind.

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Established in 1931, Mayfield Senior School in Pasadena, CA is a Catholic, independent, college preparatory school for young women grades 9-12. Noted for its rigorous academic program, which includes 28 Advanced Placement and Honors courses, Mayfield’s curriculum is underscored by a philosophy of educating the “whole child,” which also encourages commitment to and excellence in the arts, athletics, community service and spiritual growth. The nurturing environment at Mayfield Senior School allows each student to flourish in an atmosphere of personal attention.