Mexican school offers valuable life lessons for Osseo fifth-graders

Tammie Epley's destination in Mexico is one seldom seen by most spring migrants from north of the border.

It's Juan Escutia Elementary School, a primitive collection of classrooms located in a village just across the border, in the dusty, arid, and sparsely populated state of Sonora.

Later this month, Epley will accompany six Osseo schools fifth-graders, an Osseo school principal, and an assortment of relatives, public officials and translators to the little town of Sasabe, where she hopes to drop off several thousand dollars worth of school supplies for the impoverished school, and return with six changed students bursting with experiences, new observations and a sense of accomplishment.

This is the seventh year that Epley, an Osseo schools parent who lives in Maple Grove, will visit the school bringing much-needed supplies. For the first few years, it was just Epley and one of her sons making the annual pilgrimage. This is the third year she's gone with the fifth-graders and a principal.

Students in the six elementary schools that participate in the project are selected to go on the basis of an essay describing why they should go on the trip. Epley said a hundred or more students write essays. One is chosen from each school.

The stark differences between the Mexican school and those in the Twin Cities have made a big impression on those who have already made the trip.

"Looking at the school itself and the facilities, everything they have is used or piecemealed together to make it work," said Michael Thomas, principal of Osseo Junior High School, who made the trip last year as principal of Fair Oaks Elementary, in Brooklyn Park. "The classrooms surround a central courtyard that's half-dirt and half-pavement. They look like little shanties thrown up."

"It is three small buildings, basically just classrooms," Epley said. "They have no hall or anything that connects them; they all have outside doors. There's no media center, no cafeteria, no gymnasium, no playground equipment, nothing like what our students are accustomed to up here."

Juan Escutia Elementary has 250 students in grades one through six, Epley said.

The idea to make the annual trip to Sasabe came from an experience she had as a parent adviser to the student council at Oak View Elementary School, in Maple Grove.

"The principal there went to Africa to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, and he visited schools there ..." Epley said. "The [Oak View] council kids wanted to collect supplies for the kids in the schools there, but it was too expensive to get the supplies to them."

Epley's parents, who live in rural, southern Arizona, inquired about Mexican communities with schools that needed help, and Sasabe's name came up.

Putting the money to use

Epley funds the trip herself, with money she raises from community organizations, and from the six Osseo elementary schools that send fifth-graders with her. As of March 5, she and her fellow pilgrims have raised $5,300 from the schools (out of a goal of $6,500), and $5,500 (out of $7,000 needed) from community donors. The school money goes to buy supplies for the school, while funds contributed by businesses and charitable and service organizations pay for food and transportation, as well as lodging near Tucson.

As Epley makes preparations for the March 25-29 trip and continues her fundraising, the participating schools are also getting into the act. They put up posters detailing the costs and reminding students to contribute to the Escutia Elementary School fund. Some posters have crayon boxes or marker boxes stapled to them to remind them that those are the kinds of things the kids in Mexico needs, and the kids going to Mexico with Epley continue their fundraising efforts and feature their forthcoming trip in the morning announcements.

This year, Epley said, the emphasis is going to be on backpacks and basic school supplies, along with three cordless microphones and covers for the few computers donated to Juan Escutia from other sources. In the past, Epley said, the group has taken down a copier, matching T-shirts with the name of the school on it, a video camera and paperback books. Epley and her students buy the supplies in Tucson, she said.

A twist for the Mexican kids is that, as part of the program, they get to cross the border for a day and hang out in the Tucson area.

"We go to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and McDonald's; that's the restaurant they have chosen," Epley said. "They have hamburgers for the first time. Then, we take them to a condominium to go swimming."

Despite the recent U.S. State Department travel alert warning of increased violence in Mexico, Epley said she's confident that the trip to Sasabe is a safe one. She said she has checked with law enforcement officials in Tucson, with the local county sheriff's office, and with port-of-entry officers and the U.S. Border Patrol, who assured her that sector of the border is quiet.

"I tell my parents that if, at any time, the situation looks like it's unsafe for our students, then we change our plans," Epley said. "I'm never going to put them in an unsafe situation."

The Osseo school board, while not financing the trip, has approved it.

Norman Draper • 612-673-4547