Watch the video of 2007-08 Mexican students in action.

'The opportunities here are great'

En Espanol.

For over 20 years, Mexican students have been coming to Stanstead College in Quebec, Canada to improve their English. But that’s only one reason they come.

A look around the student body of approximately 210 students reveals another: this year students at this small rural campus come from Canada, the U.S., Germany, Taiwan, Korea, Italy, 17 countries in all, including 25 students from Mexico.

“Coming here has really opened me to other cultures,” says Jose-Luis Fernandez Laframboise, a Grade 9 student in his first year at Stanstead. “My studies have opened my mind as well.”

Jose-Luis lives in Stanstead’s junior boys’ residence, bunking with two other boys, one of them also from Mexico, the other from Oman. These close quarters oblige students to develop strong relational skills. It also creates lifelong friendships.

“They end up being my brothers here, my non-blood brothers,” he says.

Living away from home also develops a sense of independence and responsibility.

Ana Quintero Solana

“You don’t have your parents to fall back on. You have to do things by your own means,” says Ana Quintero Solana, a Grade 10 student in her second year at Stanstead College. “We tend to be more mature than our friends back home.”

Being so far from home can sometimes be hard, especially at first. Grade 8 student Cynthia Gil Munoz admits she was homesick during her first week but soon became so busy that she didn’t have time to be. Besides, students have surrogate parents in the form of house directors, teachers and academic advisers.

And then there are sports, with participation mandatory most days after school. Cynthia is a member of the school’s soccer and swim teams. So is Fernando Patron Lozano, also in Grade 9.

“In Mexico, I hated swimming lessons,” he says. “Here it’s more fun and more competitive so I take it more seriously.”

Both Ana and Jose-Luis have embraced Canada’s national sport of ice hockey. In fact, Ana says teamwork is one of the greatest lessons she has learned while at Stanstead.

For many Mexican students, one year at Stanstead is a family tradition. Jose-Luis, Cynthia and Fernando all have had siblings here before them and Ana’s brother is expected to come next year. Most students, however, wish they could stay longer.

“I would like to stay for a third year,” says Ana. “I think the opportunities here are great.”

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