Yesterday two graduates of my second round of Escojo Mi Vida, the Peace Corps DR initiative for sex ed, premiered their radio show “Escojo” on our community radio station, 100.1 Cascada FM.
By Peace Corps standards, it was a miracle. Last week, we met in the park in darkness to plan out our upcoming trip to the beach and the radio show. We split into three groups, which two people in charge of each one, and agreed that each week a different group would be in charge of planning and doing the program. They chose Monday at 6 p.m. I was busy with the educators conference last week, so I had totally forgotten about it until one of the group members called me on Sunday to confirm that I would be there on Monday to help and ask for guidance on a couple of issues. I was impressed.
Then yesterday two graduates who represent the first group, Pachy and Miranda, showed up at the Community Technology Center where I work to do the first show. They were amazing! The two managed the program very naturally from the start, with a conversational style and a fun attitude. They had looked up more information on the internet about self-esteem, the first topic of the course, including some a cute parable about it, to vary the content a little bit. They even put on songs that had to do with what they were talking about! They got a phone call from a listener who talked over the radio about what a great job they were doing. Granted, it was the Spanish father of another girl who came to read the story about self-esteem, but it was really exciting to see them manage the program so perfectly from the get-go.
El Limon is a perfect place for a radio show like this because the community radio station is the only one that comes in, so everyone listens to it. The girls were so excited for their first show and are sure to be celebrities around town this week.
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| From Escojo radio |
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| From Escojo radio |
Pachy, 16, on the left, and Miranda, 14, on the right.
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| From Escojo radio |
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| From Escojo radio |
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| From Escojo radio |
Wow Stephanie, what an achievement and they look like they are having a great time. What far reaching benefits there will be long after you are gone. I am very proud of you.
Love,
Grandma
The pix of you and the group is now my new background on my work computer. It is replacing the group pix of you when you took a group on a journalism field trip to SD. So, you’ll leave a legacy of self-confident young people who know how to use the radio medium to educate and educators who have a new slant on what it is to teach. Not bad, hija!