Day 9: Tackle Box Canyon and Esmeralda Diving

We found out yesterday for sure that the junior college would not be holding classes on tonight as the teachers would be heading out for Easter Break.  So, Dr. Catapano and I decided to go diving today.

We met at  8:30 and headed to the dock.  I realized once I got there that the picture of my dive card that my mother-in-law had sent me was no longer on my phone.  Just as I began to panic, they told me they could look it up in the Padi system.  Whoo.... what a relief!

I has been a little while since I have dove so I was just a little nervous; but the dive master and captain made everything easy.  Once I ran through setting up the gear and how it all works, I was ready to go...

We headed out to the first dive spot - Tackle Box Canyon.  A father and daughter team from Los Angeles joined us.  Once we got in the water, we headed down with the dive master.  Since we were hoping to see some reef shark, he took chum with him.  This dive was about 60-80 feet deep.  The nurse sharks did come quickly and they were certainly bigger than the 3-4 foot ones I am used to seeing in Key West.  These were about 7 feet long and looked really HUGE!  As we started through the canyon, one wanted to travel along so I had to kinda wait and let it swim back and forth before I could get through. 

It was so amazing to get back under the water!  Unfortunately, I have traded places with my husband and I quickly sucked my air down... I started with 3100 psi and had to go back up at 500 psi.  I was up and on the boat talking to the captain for about 10 minutes before everyone else came up.  However, the two of us did have a good chat about the education system on the island... he is not a big fan.  We talked about why and where he sends his children to school.

The second dive was at Esmeralda.  Once again, the dive master took chum down with him.  This time, the nurse sharks really flocked.  I hovered above just taking it all in; however, the dive master did convince me to come to the bottom and I touched and petted the tail of one of the sharks... This is something I would never have dreamed I would have ever done!

The funniest thing on this dive was the huge eel who lives at this site.  It came out of its home and swam over to another diver taking pictures of another group.  There was a little gap where the pocket of his shorts opened.  The eel decided it would be a good idea to stick its head inside the man's pocket.  I was laughing so hard but the guy must have been totally engrossed in the pictures he was taking because he never flinched or even looked toward the eel.  The eel got bored, I guess, and swam to another part of coral.

Because of how quickly I sucked my air down on the last dive, I hovered above everyone else most of this dive in order to try and save some air and make my dive last a little longer.  The dive itself was no more than 40-50 feet but I hovered right between 25-30 feet... and I still sucked my air down and had to go back up early.

Once I surfaced, I could not see the boat right off.  Another dive boat saw me and waved down the captain of the boat I was on, so I just floated in the water for about 10 minutes until the boat got to me and the other divers came up.

We got back to the hotel about 1:00.  I met up with the rest of the doctoral students and headed to lunch.  We decided to discuss a little more about the report we will submit to the dean of San Pedro Junior College and the suggestions we will make.  Jaime and I finalized the goals, Greg had finished the script for the orientation power point.  Cindy had worked on the enrollment application and had made a script for a graduate survey so we reviewed that.  We didn't get any further than that because the rain came in and the power went out for a while.  The student handbook still needs to be finalized.

We regrouped for dinner and Dr. Parker and the rest of us went to The Office for saveche and then to MoHo Chocolate for dessert. 

Today was great!  A little diving fun and a little work.  The week has been really busy up to this point with San Pedro Junior College.  It has been interesting to say the least. 

Day 10 Shark/Ray Alley & Hol Chan



Today is our last day.  I started the morning with breakfast, reviewing my notes from the week and meeting with my group.

Dr. Catapano had arranged a snorkel trip for both the undergrads and the doctoral students so we headed out for that. 

Hol Chan was our first stop.  We got to see different fish, sting ray, nurse sharks, sea turtles, and moray eels just to name a few of the marine life we saw.  The sharks weren't as big as the ones I got to see while scuba diving, but the sea turtle was new.  We snorkeled here for about 45 minutes before heading to the next spot.

Shark/Ray Alley was the next stop.  For this stop, if you wanted to see anything you better get your mask and fins on quick!  As soon as the anchored out, the captain began throwing sardines over the back of the catamaran.  The nurse sharks and sting ray swarmed the back of the boat.  In order to get in the water you had to maneuver past the sardine hungry nurse sharks.  It was certainly a sight to see. I couldn't get the camera switched over fast enough to get a good picture of them because I spent so much time videotaping them under the water. 

Once we finished snorkeling, we headed over to the island of Caye Caulker for lunch and a little walking around ( I did take time to check in with the family and see how baseball was going - I was really missing the family).

The catamaran ride back to San Pedro was about an hour and forty minutes.  Once back, everyone quickly dressed for dinner.  Dr. Catapano had a dinner scheduled for all of the doctoral students at Caroline's.  The food was amazing!  We talked about our time here in Belize and the things we learned and experienced and what some of our take-aways and reflections are of the trip. 

This has been a great learning experience.  I will certainly be encouraging my own kids to do a study abroad time once they get to college. 

Day 8: Final Day at San Pedro Junior College

We started our day in what has become our normal routine... breakfast and blogging at Caribbean Villas.

At 11:00, Jaime and I got together and began compiling our interview notes and thoughts from our group meeting yesterday to begin writing up a collaboration report for San Pedro Junior College.  We began breaking down the items that administration had identified as areas in which they needed assistance and then incorporating the ideas and suggestions we spoke of during our interviews.  We decided to break it down into short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals.

At 1:00 we met back up with the rest of our group and headed back out to the junior college. We spent the next few hours reviewing some of our suggestions with Mr. Gilharry and Ms. Gomez.  We were also able to interview them as well as the secretary Miss Betty on the our topics of research.  This was the first opportunity we had been given to speak with Miss Betty.

Miss Betty wears many hats:  secretary, admissions, business office, registrar, student services.  Miss Betty is the person who will see students from the time they come to apply to the college all the way through to graduation.  This woman certainly could use an extra set of hands or two.

We left the junior college around 4:45 and then met back up for dinner to discuss the resources we will provide in our final collaboration report and a time frame to have the student handbook reviewed and recommendations to present.

The end of another very productive day!

Day 7 Back to San Pedro Junior College

We started the day back at Caribbean Villas for breakfast and blogging and to get some thoughts together for the administration at San Pedro.

We left for the junior college at 1:00.  We were to meet with the Dean, Assistant Dean, and the other FT facutly at 1:30.   We arrived a few minutes early and waited unil 1:30.  The culture here is that if you are on time you are early.

Mr. Gilharry and Ms. Gomez were the only two there to meet with us.  Mr. Gilharry is the assistant dean and director of the Tourism Managment program.  Ms.  Gomez is the director of the Business Administration program.  Mr. Gilharry began by discussing the program outline document he had emailed us the night before.  On Tuesday, he had mentioned needing help with syllabus construction; however, while there today, he printed out a copy of his current syllabus.  It was very detailed with all the major components expected in a syllabus.  His biggest need is that he needs to get the other faculty to update their own syllabi.  He already has a good template in place if he uses his own as an example.

He identified some other areas they feel they could use some assistance:  student handbook update, admission application review,  program brochures, and software for tracking admission, payments, coursework.  The group offered several suggestions based on our experience and what our individual institutions utilize.  Both Mr. Gilharry and Ms. Gomez seemed very receptive to our ideas and suggestions.  They did get a little overwhelmed, I believe, because they want to do so much but not everything can be done on immediate time table as they seem to want it to be.

We left that meeting at 3:45 and went for a late lunch at Wet Willy's to talk as a group about what we can feasilby do within the time that we are here as well as a plan that we can leave them with prioritizing and setting short-term and long-term goals.  

At 6:00 we reurned to the junior college.  We observed a distance education course on Computer Technology for Galen University.  There are 11 students enrolled in the course and by 6:30 only 5 students had shown up for class.  The internet connection was good; however, there was difficulty hearing the instructor online and getting the screen focused.  

Next, we got to sit in on a high school class and observe a tourism guide certification class.  Students attend high school at night for 2 reasons:  (1) they are working during the day and cannot attend day courses or (2) they have been expelled from school and can only come to night classes as a second chance.  In Belize, kids are only required to attend school up through the age of 14.  Tuition is required for high school if they choose or can afford to attend.  The particular class we sat in on was a  Morality and Ethics course.  The students were not very engaged.

The tourism guide certification course we observed was a little different.  These students were very engaged.  These students are currently working in tourism but are needing the certification to be a certified tour guide.

Today was very productive and a great learning experience.  It is easy to see the things that we take for granted on a daily basis and even with the challenges we encounter on a daily basis, our jobs are easier for the resources we have.  

Day 6: San Pedro Junior College

Some of us decided to venture out from the hotel and have breakfast by the beach to work on our blogs and register for summer and fall classes.  

We were originally scheduled to meet the administration of San Pedro Junior College in the evening; however, our schedule changed and we met back at the hotel at 1:00 to head on over.  Once there, we met with Dean Ellis, the assistant dean, and the other full-time faculty member.  

San Pedro has 80 students and offers three programs:  Business Management, Tourism Management and Business Administration.  Ten of the 80 students are considered 3rd year students as they come seasonally to complete their degree.

Once everyone introduced themselves, the Dean began to discuss areas in which they could use some assistance.  They have recently aligned with CARICOM and need to become compliant in paticular areas.  The biggest area Dean Ellis identified in needing assistance is developing their course syllabi.  He is going to send us what they currently have to review and we will meet back and discuss some ideas and options with them. 

We also discussed our individual areas of interest. They will take our topics and partner us with faculty and staff that can answer our questions.  

We left the college around 2:30 and went for a late lunch.  During lunch, we discussed possible options to assist the college with their syllabi.  Both Dr. Catapano and myself have syllabi templates we can share but there is still many questions about what CARICOM may require or if any guidelines have been outlined.  Later in the evening, some of us tried to research CARICOM and any educational standards they may have but were unsuccessful.

  

Day 5: University of Belize

Another full, but exciting day!





Vision Statement



Mission Statement

We started the day at the University of Belize.  We met with Cynthia, the Assistant Provost, Sharon, Student Services Coordinator, and Ethel with Quality Assurance.  The majority of this meeting was spent with the three administrators identifying challenges they are encountering and areas that we could possibly be of assistance.  A couple of the key ideas that came out are:  non-academic policies of the student handbook need to be revamped and/or rewritten, substance abuse, course evaluations, continuing education course development and sustainability.  Cynthia is going to send us the current student handbook to review and we discussed many options for course evaluation. They have updated academic policies but the non-academic policies have not been revamped.  Some of the policies they want revisited does not seem to be policies they really want to address.  They spoke of alcohol and embezzlement issues.  They take a learning experience approach to discipline but at the same time seem very hesitant to enforce or maybe even how to enforce policies that are in place.  Hopefully, we will be able to help them out in some manner. 

After we left the University of Belize, we had lunch at Amigo's.  I was so happy!! Fresh brewed iced tea!!

The Belize Zoo was our next stop.  The zoo was interesting in that only animals indigenous to Belize.  I am so grateful for the couple days we have had to learn about the culture of Belize.

 


National Animal



 

 


National Bird













Day 4: Caracol

 Today was another exciting day!!  Everyone met for breakfast again at our favorite breakfast spot,  Flayva's, at 6:15 to make sure we were ready to leave at 7:30.

At 7:30, Mario, Renan's brother - our guide from yesterday, picked us up to head to Caracol.  The road there was insane!  We spent an easy hour on a very bumpy, rutted, dirt road.  Now, this is a one lane road but on occasion it would suddenly become a three lane road and no room for error.  Scary!  Once we got to the national park, Mario had to check in the military post and get an escort in to Caracol since this portion of Belize borders Guatemala and thieves from Guatemala like to try and enter the country.



The first place we stop is at the Rio Frio cave.  This place would be an awesome camp site!  We were able to get out and explore and take pictures around this cave, unlike yesterday.

Barrios Plaza

 About 9:30 we arrive at Caracol, an excavated Mayan site.  Caracol site gave insight on how the Mayan people lived and spent their days.  The site was divided into plazas.  The first plaza, Barrios,

represented where the high, important people of the Mayan village lived.  There were residences, as well as an open plaza for cooking and setting up market.

The second plaza we visited represented both administrative offices, residences and a temple. 

Administrative and Residence

The sun sets in the west... you can still see some of the original paint used

The third plaza was strictly ceremonial.  People came only to observe and see the rituals celebrating the  movement of the sun, stars, and Venus. 


The last plaza was called the Raleigh Group.  This plaza was made of stone indicating that the people who lived there had some form of wealth.  The structures were small but this indicated that there was some level of middle class with the Mayan society.

Many artifacts have been uncovered at this Mayan site; however, most have been put in the care of museums to preserve and protect as the government of Belize does not have the resources to keep them secure.

The last stop of the day was at River Rock.  Here we took time to enjoy the waterfall.  According to a couple of local men, legend says the Mayan treasure is hidden behind the waterfall.  However, due to the strength of the waterfall, no one has been able to find it.

Visiting two different Mayan sites in two days was very culturally enlightening.  Each one told its own story of part of the Mayan society and gave insight in part to the modern day culture of Belize.

The day has ended and we are all very tired, especially physically.  But tomorrow, the University of Belize!