1

Feature Story

We Area GreatPlace toWork!

JanineSeifert

Class 02’

Cover Story

JOHN F. KENNEDY · THE AMERICAN SCHOOL OF QUERÉTARO

2 1

SPRING 2010

vision To facilitate the balanced

development of our students; with commitment and respect for the local community and

a multicultural world.

Mirtha Stappung M.Ed., MA General Director

Charles Weiss M.Ed., MA assistant superintenDent

Denise Humphries MA pre–school principal

Mark Dunn M.Ed., MA elementary school principal

Tara Fitzgerald Ed. Admin., MS miDDle school principal

Adrian Leece MA, BSc, FRMtS hiGh school principal

Arturo Bustamante athletic Department Director

C.P. Josefina Morgan M. Admon. y Finanzas

Financial Director

Ing. Julián Urquiza, Arq. Rodolfo Vega, Lic. Roberto Loyola, Act. María del

Mar Sánchez Rull, Ing. Ángel de Lope Friedeberg.

BoarD oF Directors

Lic. Mónica Duarte BalcárceleDitor in chieF anD

chair oF the eDitorial BoarD

Charles Weiss, Dorothy Gerhart, Adrian Leece, Felicia Lyons,

Magdalena Chapa, Sarah DeVries, Karla Ríos

eDitorial BoarD

Héctor Muñoz DesiGn

Karla Ríos, Víctor Ortega, Asbed Levi photoGraphy

alumni oFFice Valeria Fagiolani

http://alumni.jfk.edu.mxaDvertisinG sales

Karla Ríos Tel. (442) 218 0075 ext. 1010

krios@jfk.edu.mx

vol. 1 no. 5 may 2010

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101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536

TeachersSTAFF& CORNER

JFK: A

Community

Owned

School

J4N1N3531F3R7

Cover Story

ROBERTO DELGADO & MISS CAROL BRADY'S

PHOTOBOOK

We are a Great Place to Work!

Feature Story

Have something to say

“Th

eP

ura

V

ida”

P

roje

ct

Pre-school Tricycle Park

Sari Visoso

AcademicCorner

Pre–school Reading Project

Letter from The General Director

Our NewMiddle School Building

Connecting with Alumni

2 3

AcademicPre-school

Reading Project

CornerOUTSTANDING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS BY OUR FACULTY OR STUDENTS

Four years ago, three Pre-school teachers became part of the “Mano a Mano” project offered by the Tri-

association and suny Buffalo, and sponsored by the US State Department for Overseas Schools. This project is designed to help Early Childhood Educators receive updated informa-tion regarding developmentally appropriate practices. Teachers; Luz Cobos, Guadalupe Castillo, and Ángeles Partida attended week

Reading is the basis for

success in our chil-

dren’s future professional and person-

al life.

Letter from the General

Director

We are happy to see an article in this edition from our current Board of Directors President describing the role of our Board. Our recogni-tion goes to this Board, and all of those in the past, for their voluntary efforts to continue to support the development of our school. Their work focused upon strategic planning, provide guidance to the school community and help us to maintain our focus on the school’s vision.

Our school is not only a great place for our students to study; it is also a Great Place To Work! We are delighted that we have obtained certification as one of the “Best Places to Work in Mexico”. Three hundred and eighty nine institutions applied for certification and only one hundred and sixty five were given this prestigious award. We are all very proud of this acknowledgment and it adds validation to the fact that this is indeed a great place to work!

Our cover story highlights yet another gradu-ate who has gone on to a prestigious university and excelled in her efforts. I remember Janine when she was in my Pre–first class many years ago. An education at JFK is all about learning, creating good memories and a bright future!

There are many more interesting stories in this edition and I invite you to enjoy them and continue to share pride in your association with the JFK!

By Denise Humphries Pre–school Principal

For their community spirit through donations

to the school.

Our Community

Supports JFK!

A special thanks to

Mirtha StappungM.Ed., MA

General Director

4 5

This year over 80

families have joined the project

and work on different

homework activities

to encour-age read-

ing with their

children.

long courses in Guatemala and Columbia and participated in online courses. For their final assignment they created a “Reading Project” for our Pre–School parents. Their objective was to help parents learn tips about making read-ing enjoyable and fun for their children. Over the past three years the project has evolved and grown with an addition of a new team member, Mary Beny Álvarez. Each year these Reading Project instructors provide tips to parents to support their children in the reading process. They have presented workshops about reading topics such as; Reading and the Brain, Multiple Intelligence, The Importance of Reading. This year, over eighty families have joined the project and have worked on different homework activi-ties to encourage reading with their children.

Mercedes Lorenzo

PARENT

This workshop gave me ideas to put into practice to help stimu-late interest in books and read-ing. My son loves to look for the treasure I set up for him and now he likes to make the drawing about the story. He now makes an effort to identify words and he likes to follow up

on the story that I tell him.

Paty Sánchez PARENT

You share such valuable tools to motivate reading in our chil-dren. This workshop was very interesting to me. Reading is the basis for success in our chil-dren’s future professional and

personal life.

6 7

THE JFK SPIRIT

BuildingCommunityJFK: A Community Owned School

It is quite common here in Mexico to have schools that are created by larger institutions such as churches, business or government entities. The nature of each organization helps to set the objectives of the school. The John F. Kennedy School does not follow this model.

This school has no specific owner and in fact has never had one in all of it’s’ forty-five year history.

But, how can a school function without an owner?

Who is responsible for setting the direction for the institution?

Who decided that the John F. Kennedy School should offer the International Baccalau-reate to our High School students?

Who decided that we should be accredited by our American certification agency advanced, sacs casi and that we should re-main determined to meet its high standards?

Who determines the tuition and registration fees?

Who decides for the school how its income will be used?

In a company the owner is usually the person who makes these decisions. But, in a case like the John F. Kennedy School without an owner,

who is there to decide these things? Maybe it is the General Director who makes

all of these decisions. But, who hires the General Director?

Finally we come to the key question: Who has actually run the John F. Kennedy School for the past forty-five years?

The answer is both simple and brilliant: The parents of students studying in the school have been responsible for running the school. The answer is in one way simple because forty-five years ago, there was a group of parents who wanted a different kind of education for their children and, not finding it, they founded the John F. Kennedy School! This simple idea was also brilliant in that we know that the people who are most interested in the educa-tion of their children are the parents of the children themselves.

Because of our unique status as a school without an owner, we have no specific commit-ment to any founding institution for financial support or direction. We have the freedom to stay focused upon the same commitment that established this school. Simply stated, we |remain focused upon preparing our children for their current and future lives through pro-viding a high quality education to them all.

Our school has two govern-ing bodies. The first is the Assembly of Members and the second is the Board of Directors, commonly known as "The Board". They work for the school on a voluntary basis and receive no salary for their efforts. The Assem-bly of Members is composed of forty-five parents with children enrolled in our school. They meet at least three times a year. From these meetings, presen-tations and discussions emerge a consensus that supports the direction of the school.

The second governing body is the Board of Direc-

tors. “The Board” consists of five, seven or nine members that are chosen from the Assembly of Members. Terms of service end every two years. The Board of Directors receives instruc-tions from the Assembly and transmits them to the General Director of the school who is responsible for carrying out these instructions.

The Board of Directors is responsible for the employment and evaluation of the General Director and for providing guidance to the school community through creation of school policies as established by the Assembly. Another important task is to work directly with the General Director in regularly scheduled meet-ings, and more often as needed.

The General Director is responsible for the day-to-day opera-tion of the school which includes the employment and super-vision of all school staff and oversight of all programs and curriculum. The Board does not involve itself directly in the operation of the school, but works through its General Director.

We celebrate the freedom that we find in our governance structure that gives us a way to be a school without an owner. We are a school focusing solely on our "finished product". This product includes the maintenance of our community and the provision of a better life for our students through a quality education.

"Because of our unique status as a school without an owner we have no specific commit-ment to any founding institution."

By Ing. Julián Urquiza, Board President

Board Members

"Through my participation on JFK’s Board of Directors I was able to find a way to spend more time with my children."Jesús Tamayo Medina

8 9

My experience as a member of JFK’s Board of Directors

There is a saying that something is learned every day and I agree with it. I never expected to learn the meaning of one word while being on the Kennedy’s Board of Directors: I learned the meaning of the word community. I looked in the dictionary and found the following definition: “a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.”

I learned that an institution like JFK can’t be understood without this definition and without this feeling of Community.

What surprised me the most was the enormous mix that this group of “others” has: Students, Professors, Employees, Parents, Suppliers, etc. all with different origins, ages beliefs and idiosyncrasies. With such diverse cultures that validate the oft mentioned definition, each of the members of the Kennedy Community share, in the end, an attitude, an interest, and a common goal: we are either interested in being formed as persons or we are interested in forming persons.

Learning this made me feel proud of JFK as an institution and it also made me feel very proud of myself for being a part of this community.

Julián Urquiza

10 11

OurStudents

THEY HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY

“The Pura

Vida” Project

High School interdisciplinary trips provide the opportunity to generate further integration of our generation, to learn, and at the same time to get to know our country. The biological, geographical, and cultural diversity that exist within our country is truly surprising. Being able to get to know it, in the company of my friends and fellow students, is a very enriching learning experience.

The first of our trips was to the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro. Many of us have lived a greater part of our lives in this State but did not know the green side of it, its majestic mountains, rich history, abundant flora and fauna, and most

Each trip has something that stands out. In the

Sierra it is the social service work we do.

"I invite you to think

about this: as Mexican, as residents of

Querétaro, as a community;

what makes us unique?"

importantly, the warm and industrious people of Querétaro.

Each trip has something that stands out. In the Sierra it is the social service work that we do. We were able to play, interact, and share with the children of the Concá School and we later visited the “Pura Vida” marmalade fac-tory. A lot of men from low income communi-ties immigrate to the United States in search of the famous “American Dream”. Some die on the way, others forget their families. Few of the ones that get there send money back to their families. These people leave a vacant space not only within their families but also within our country. Their communities depend exclusively on the money that they send back, which is not always be in the same amount ,or be certain of arriving.

As an answer to this problem some ladies decided to take the initiative and change. By taking renewable resources from their environment and transforming them they created a high quality product and a delicious taste that is 100% from Queretaro –a product that is at the level of any international brand. “Pura Vida” marmalades have enormous poten-tial but lack infrastructure, mainly in market-ing and sales.

We feel a great moral commitment to our brothers and sisters of the Sierra but more than anything to our country, and we are looking for other similar projects to support in the Sierra Gorda of Querétaro. We believe that it is very important to share our knowledge with those who can use it in a positive way to boost these kinds of projects in Mexico. With the help of

Bob, our Citizenship teacher, we have designed a plan to promote and propel these projects within our community.

In the initial stages of the Project we will be selling three different products. “Pura Vida” marmalades and conserves –made with fruits and vegetables from the Sierra. We also promote Café Delicias de Xilitla and Eco Café Sierra –planted, cultivated, processed, and promoted by generations of Sierra families. They all vary in taste and size and are sold at an affordable price.

During the summer I had the opportunity to attend a leadership conference in which I was asked what makes me unique. I constantly ponder this question and I am sure that being Mexican is definitely on my list. This leads me to ask myself, as a Mexican, as a person from Queretaro, what makes me unique?

I invite you to think about this: as Mexicans, as a people from Queretaro, as a community.

What makes us unique?

By Tomás González · Tenth grade student

12 13

A FOCUS ON OUR STAFF

TeachersSTAFF CORNER&

Many years ago, twenty to be precise, I had my first encounter with a mother whose daughter was my student. Her face reflected worry but it started to change as we spoke and became calmer. One year after that talk I looked into the same face but now Sari was my coworker. She not only helped out in the classrooms but also lent support to the secundaria office which is what middle school used to be called.

“Hello Sari” I said. And she replied with a friendly “Hello!” with a signature smile on her lips.

Yes, Sari Visoso del Valle, the wife of Mr. Manuel Nava Márquez, joined the John F. Kennedy School, A.C. on September 17, 1990. Martha Salinas had invited her to collaborate as a volunteer in ordering and selling school books for the 1990-1991 school year. Afterwards, Blanca García Flores, former middle school principal invited her to work as her secretary. She has since held the position of secretary to all the middle school principals that followed.

Her children, José Manuel and Sara Cecilia Nava Visoso, entered the school as students of 5th grade and 7th grade and went on to high school at Colegio San Javier.

In those first years that Sari was in middle school I did not understand what a valuable human being she was because I worked full time in elementary.

It was at that time that I realized that Sari always had a smile on her lips regardless of

"She has been a

beautiful guide from

whom I have learned

serenity and patience

which are beautiful

gifts when one has to deal

with stu-dents and teachers."

Sari Visoso

By Josefina Cariño

Lourdes Manzo

“Sari, as we all know her, belongs to that special group of people that molded us without having been our teacher directly. Sari is part of the JFK personnel that teach by example. Every day she would give us her smile and attention. Sari has been a teacher, but above all she has been a friend to all the students who have had the privilege of knowing her. We will always remember you with affection”.Ing. Federico Borrego, Alumni and President of MS Student Council '93-'94

Sari has become an important part of my life, someone I count on for everything and a friend. The students respect her, parents trust her and her colleagues love her. Thank you Sari for all that you have done for the middle school, the students, and the c ommunity. We truly love you. Tara FitzgeraldMiddle School Principal

the difficulty of her work. Who contacted parents to set up appointments with the princi-pal or with teachers? Sari did. Who always kept the teachers and students files in order and up to date? Sari did. Who ordered supplies? Sari did. Who sent the lists to the administration office so that we could get paid? Sari did. Who had to simultaneously deal with two, three or four students and teachers that asked for chalk, an eraser, water, an aspirin (the infirmary was non-existent at the time), or the use of the telephone? Sari did. Who copied the students’ grades to report them to SEP? Sari did. Sari has done all of this and much more and she has always done it with the good humor, courtesy, and equanimity that characterize her but above all with the spirit to serve whoever needs it.

As a mother, a coworker, and a friend, I am very thankful for these wonderful years that I have shared with Sari. All of us who have had the good luck to know her will always hold her dear to our hearts and we hope that she also keeps good memories of her Kennedy family in hers.

I sincerely wish that you will find health, love and internal peace in your future life –the main ingredients to happiness.

And to further highlight her great human quality and her loyalty to JFK, here are some comments and testimonies from others who have had the good fortune of working by her side.

14 15

PROVIDING SUPPORT FOR OUR MODEL OF EDUCATION

SPORTSThe Pre-school Tricycle Park – Excercise and Learning“For the Pre–school child who is three to five years old, movement is an important area of development that directly impacts social, cognitive, language, and the adaptive behavior areas of growth.” That is what Patricia K. Owens, Ph.D., a Motor Development Specialist has said about the importance of providing a wide variety of movement activities for the very young child.

There are windows of opportunity within our educational program to help children develop these important movement skills. We try and provide these experiences in a fun way that both allows for play and at the same time helps to develop physical abilities. We know that we can add to physical activi-ties provided at home.

Two years ago, we were able to create a tricycle park and this has provided extra opportunities for children to enhance their gross motor skills and explore a fun place to be. They work on so many skills at the same time as they drive around the track. Besides working on balance, lateral body movement and general body awareness skills, they are learning to share, take care of materials and socialize with others. It is a pleasure for all to see the children role play being the “police officer” or “traffic cop”; guiding the traffic and using their language skills to allow traffic to enter or stop. We are lucky to have had so much community support to help turn this idea into a reality.

By Denise Humphries, Pre-School Principal

16 17

WHAT ARE WE UP TO?

On The MoveJFK

The Report; This We Believe: Keys to Educating the Young Adoles-cent reminds us that a successful Middle School environment for the young adolescent must be an inviting, supportive, safe place; a joyful community that promotes in–depth learning and enhances the young adolescents’ physical

and emotional well–being. The organizational structure of a Middle School building must be one that fosters purposeful learning, meaningful relation-ships and scheduling options that allow for common planning time, interdisciplinary team projects and flexible scheduling.

Our NewMiddle School Building

The new building

encom-passes the

value of building a

caring community,

in a safe, supervised

and collab-orative

environ-ment.

Collaboration and Teaming: The new build-ing was designed with the needs of the young adolescent in mind. Collaboration space is a key element of a Middle School building. The new design has enabled us to team each grade level together and schedule planning times for teachers by both grade level and content area. The five additional classroom spaces in the new model eliminated scheduling conflicts and provided the ability to schedule more common planning times in order to increase teacher collaboration and communication. Interdisciplinary team projects will be easier to plan and organize as a result of more class-rooms and meeting areas.

Communication: All spaces in the building are equipped with a two–way intercom system to promote more effective communication and the ability to share important messages. Student Council members will be able to share information, make quick reminders about spirit days, and help to develop the Middle School spirit in a way that was never possible in the previous structure.

Spaces: The building is designed so that stu-dents will have safe, open spaces to meet with their mentors and friends and a large patio area in the center of the building that will be used for student meetings, ceremonies, events, celebrations and community building. What does the new building provide for our young adolescent, staff and community members?: Every teacher will have their own classroom to organize and structure to meet the needs of the students in their content area; a large open art room with a plenty of space to exhibit work; a state of the art computer lab for developing technology skills for the 21st century; a great new music room equipped with individual practices spaces; secure storage closets for instruments and a stage for performances. The multipurpose room on the lower level of the building will be useful for performances, grade

By Tara Fitzgerald Middle School Principal

18 19

level meetings, Parent Association meetings, back to school meetings and small conferences among other things. Support staff offices and meeting rooms are on every level of the build-ing; providing for parent/teacher conference rooms; social service room with easy access is located on the main floor of the building for parent and student volunteers. Lockers and bathrooms are located on each level, and an elevator to assist students and staff with tem-porary or permanent injuries or health issues move safely to each level of the building.

I would like to thank Miss Mirtha Stappung, our General Director and the Board of Direc-tors for allowing me to share in the design pro-cess of the new Middle School building. The wrap–around structural design for the building was an important aspect of the new design as I asked for something that would appear to wrap like arms around the students and enable us to keep them close to us and to each other. Young adolescents experience rapid and signif-icant developmental changes during their time in Middle School. Understanding the unique developmental characteristics and needs of the young adolescent and their relationship to the educational program and to the structure of the Middle School are central tenets of middle year’s education.

The new building encompasses the value of building a caring community, in a safe, supervised and collaborative environment. I want the middle years to be one of the happi-est, supportive times in my student’s lives and I believe as the Middle School principal that our new building was built with the young adolescent and the JFK mission and vision in mind every “brick” of the way.

The wrap around

structural design for

the building was an

important aspect of

the new design as I

asked for something that would

appear to wrap like

arms around the

students and enable

us to keep them close to us an to

each other.

20 21

Our working environment –our school– is a very special place to work. We all know that. Now we are actually certified by an outside evaluation agency as, “A Great Place To Work”. This certification validates the fact that our leadership team has worked over the years to create an environment that is focused upon satisfaction on the part of all who spend their working days on the campus. Each one of us works here because together we have achieved these excellent results. Em-ployees from our maintenance crews, through our support staff, teachers and administration all find this to be a great place to work.

This year three hundred and eighty nine companies in Mexico were voluntarily surveyed, through a rigorous certification process, by a company: The Great Place to Work® Institute. Only one hundred and sixty five of those surveyed were accepted for certi-fication. The John F. Kennedy School scored nineteen within the top twenty in the nation!

A good work environment and satisfied employees help ensure that we are able to meet our mission and vision. Students benefit greatly from a school where those who work here like their jobs. Year after year we notice the smiles of our students. We see the satisfaction of our JFK families and our own enthusiasm. These observations help to

We are a Great Place to Work!

maintain our desire to come to work every day to be with friends and our professional colleagues.

We are a community that is in a constant preparation for the future. We work to take advantage of new opportunities; and adapt-ing to changes proposed by new generations. We are a community with hope in the future. We see this hope reflected in each class with teachers preparing students, and our support team providing for the welfare of the students and the entire working team. A great contri-bution to this success is that our employees see this as a great place to work.

The Great Place to Work® Institute is devot-ed to helping organizations understand and practice values and behaviors that lead them to become good places to work. Founded in 1991 by a team of professionals and man-agement counselors, this organization has worked with companies worldwide for more than twenty–five years in many different work sectors. In our country, the Great Place to Work® Institute started operations in 2002.

20JFK Hits the Top 20

165Accepted Companies

389Applying Companies

Great Place to Work® Institute

2009 Study Results

Students benefit greatly from a school where those who work here like their jobs. Year after year we notice the smiles of our students.

Mirtha Stappung, General Director and Cristina Pérez, Human resources , received the Great Place to Work Award for JFK

Feature Story

By Cristina Pérez

22 23

Today, this institute is certified by the Instituto Mexicano de Normalización y Certificación, A. C. (imnc).

Their Mission: “We are devoted to build a better society, helping companies to become excellent places to work”. They have a presence in 52 countries with permanent offices in 40. Over the years they have surveyed more than 15,000 participant companies and more than 10 million employees in their five dimensions of quality: “Credibility, Respect, Impartiality, Pride and Fellowship”.

Their company is recognized worldwide for having created a standard of understanding of what makes an organization a great place

to work. Being accepted through their certifi-cation process joins the school to a team of worldwide leaders in shared workplaces of quality .

Those who work her in all capacities have always been proud to be a part of our school.

This award in particu-lar, allows us to be thankful to those in the past that started to build the founda-tions of this great place to work.

They continue to contribute with their work to achieve great things on a daily basis. This award in particular, allows us to be thankful to those in the past that started to build the foun-dations of this great place to work. This certi-fication will renew our commitment, no matter what our position in the school, to continue as a strong and enthusiastic community devoted to our students and their integral development.

I take this opportunity to thank our entire staff for providing support in the implementa-tion of the “Great Place to Work” study. We now can look around us with pride knowing that we have achieved great things working together as a team to create a great place to work. As we celebrate our 45th Anniversary, we thank you for being here. We will continue on our path of the pursuit of excellence and engagement and will use the results of this study to even further ensure that we are a great place to work!

24 25

Janine Seifert is what I would call a successful woman. Janine was an outstanding student in her stu- dies at JFK and in her university. She is now an accomplished actuary with a successful professional career abroad. I found her to be not only happy and intelligent, but also to be a visionary woman. She is a proud alumna of the John F. Kennedy School who so agreeably responded to this interview from New York City where she currently resides and has recently been promoted as Vice President, Senior Treaty Underwriter for Swiss Reinsurance America Corp.

Cover Story

J4N

1N3

531F

3R7

1 By Mónica Duarte · Editor in Chief

Bachelor of Science in Business

AdministrationSumma Cum Laude

MajorActuarial Science/Finance

GPA: 3.97/4.0

JFK CLASS OF 2002

26 27

Janine, you received five different scholarships during your education at Drake University!What was the work behind getting those scholarships? The first and most significant scholarship for me was the National Alumni Scholarship which covered my tuition and housing for the four years I was at Drake. In order to obtain the scholarship, I had to get a particular grade point average in high school, get above a certain score in the SAT tests, write several essays and go through an interview process. I was lucky enough to receive one of the four scholarships available. The other scholarships I got where awarded once I was at the University and these were based on the grade point aver-age I was getting while I was already at Drake.

What does it mean to you to have received The Wall Street Journal Student Achievement Award 2005 – 2006? The Wall Street Journal Student Achieve-ment Award was established by the Journal to provide recognition to graduating seniors in Business at colleges and universities in the United States. At Drake the award is given to

What interests you most about the job that you do at Swiss Re Life & Health America Inc.? What I like most about my job is that there is so much to learn and so many amazingly

2

3

knowledgeable people to work with and learn from. We work with so many Latin American markets and different lines of business, that even after 3+ years here I continue to learn something new almost on a daily basis. I also greatly enjoy the fact that there is no daily rou-tine. There is always something different that comes up and I am never bored.

What motivates you to do your best on the job?There are several things that motivate me to do my best. I work hard to make my family proud. Furthermore, I do my best because

I truly enjoy my work and the bet-ter I do, the more responsibilities I get, and the more involved I get on exciting projects. What are your professional goals in the next five years?My main goal is to continue learning as much as I can and hopefully share the knowledge with others. Time flies and I acknowledge that five years will go by very fast (I can’t believe I have already been here for more than three). Over the next five years I would like to contin-ue working in a team in which I feel comfort-able. I want to be in a role where I can continue learning, gain more responsibilities, and get involved in different kinds of global projects.

one senior based on a faculty selection process. It was a great honor to receive this award and see my name printed on the internationally distributed Wall Street Journal.

What was your contribution to win the State of Iowa Governor’s Volunteer Award?While I was a student at Drake I volunteered at a local elementary school and helped in an afterschool ESL (English as a Second Lan-guage) program for students of various ages. Because of this volunteer work the Governor of Iowa presented me with this award.

Jani

ne w

ith h

er m

othe

r

28 29

5What are your hobbies?I love travelling, going to the movies, playing soccer and mostly spending time with friends and family.

What do you like about living in New York City?I love that there is something to do for just about everyone and there is always something different going on. I love being able to attend concerts, Broadway plays, museums, sports events, etc. all year round. I also love going to Times Square, sitting on the stairway and just observing how many people from around the world you can see. I also love having people come visit and showing them around.

What are you passionate about?

I am passionate about life. I am a believer that you should enjoy everything you do and learn from everyday experiences.

4Will you share some fun memories from your days at JFK?There are too many to pick one. But some of the most fun days where the various asomex basketball and football tournaments, the trips to Catemaco and Oaxaca in High School, Rojos y Azules games and Children’s Day.

What were the most valuable lessons that you learned from your days at JFK?

I learned that hard work pays off and that good friends are friends for life. My best friends continue to be the people I met during my fifteen years at JFK from both the student body and the faculty.

What advice might you share to enrich the lives of current JFK students?I encourage students to study abroad. The experience enriched me greatly as I was exposed to different cultures and people from very different backgrounds and points of view.

What would be your advice for a future JFK graduate that would like to study at Drake University and ideally, receive a scholarship?Work hard in everyday classes while at JFK to earn a high GPA and spend a good amount of time studying for the SAT examinations as these are a big driver to the admissions process of universities in the United States. There are several different types of scholar-ships at Drake and many other universities in the United States which are very accessible to international students.

Do you have a message for the JFK communi-ty as we celebrate our forty-fifth anniversary? It is amazing that JFK has changed the lives of so many people over the last forty-five years. I bet that we as alumni, faculty and students all have fantastic memories of our days at JFK. We are all part of an incredible community. We should continue to work together during the next forty-five years to make the school even better so that it can continue to have an important impact on future generations!

If you are at work, make sure you work at some-thing you truly enjoy. If you are with friends or family, enjoy every possible second.

What type of travels do you like most?I love going to new places and seeing as much as possible in the little time I have available. I have especially enjoyed travelling around Europe a lot because there is so much to see.

Janine at eight years old

Janine, 1st row, 2nd from right

Janine in the city with friends

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AlumniCONNECTING WITH ALUMNI

Now is a big chance. Come

back to JFK! Join us for breakfast.

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WHAT ARE WE DOING NOW?

Class Notes

What led you to become a writer?I think that any good reader will try to write one day. That is what happened to me. The difference is that I decided to stop writing just for myself and I ventured into the more ambitious project of writing a novel and cultural articles for newspapers. I think that writing has saved me from losing myself in the corporate world and it has filled me with a different kind of satisfaction, the kind that fills the soul and draws sincere smiles. It is my way of saying that I am alive and that I love life in my own way.

What was the process that you underwent in writing “The Triumph of Others”?To say the truth, it was a very long process because I never thought that it would actually get published. For this reason I began to weave a complex story starting with my first university years and gradually advanced. I wanted to have a serious book even if it were about me. Something curious is that the main line of my story took many dif-ferent paths and I ended up writing many angles to the plot that had never even gone through my mind. This is the delicious part of the exercise; the narrative gains its own life and takes the pen through paths that were never included in the initial project. I finished my novel in 2006 and then spent another period of time looking for an editor until the doors opened for me in 2008 and “The Triumph of Others” was finally published last year. Now I have become more professional and it took me five months to finish my second novel.

roberto Delgado ríosJFK Alumni • Writer

Name: Roberto Delgado RíosAge: 32 Birthplace: Querétaro, Qro.Current Residence: Mexico CityProfession: Writer and Lawyer

INTERVIEW

This novel is currently undergoing a review before being submitted to an official correction of style so that it can be published at the end of this year or at the beginning of next year.

What satisfaction has this book brought you?Well, first of all the personal satis-faction of being able to see myself on the bookshelves at bookstores. This is such a big dream that I have achieved and it has been the perfect incentive to continue in my literary career with several published novels

that will surely appear in the future. Regarding other aspects, I have been invited to different television and radio programs and important fairs such as FIL in Guadalajara as well as to other places where my prima opera has been recognized which is some-thing that I never imagined would happen. I will always remember the first time that I went into a bookstore anonymously and asked for my book and I will never forget the sensation of see-ing it on display. This convinces you that anything can be accomplished, absolutely anything.

How do you consider that your education at JFK contributed to your becoming a successful writer? JFK contributed in many ways. My first rapproche-ment to letters, at least as a listener from a school desk, was with Miss Corzo. I remember her as being very well read and her class was mostly focused on the correct way of writing. I remember to date that during those times I was not a very good student and she literally told me: “When you become a writer you will be able to tell me something, for the time being just listen to my class”. Now that I am a writer I realize how that phrase and that class made me think a lot about the attractiveness of those first readings and the correct way to write. I must also say that JFK in general, and its cloister of teachers, also instilled good reading habits in me –which as we have mentioned, is the door to writing. To finish up, I can say with great pride, that this school has no doubt been a great compass of my first years within the wakeful and reasoned world. Who knows, per-haps one day I will describe my days within the JFK classrooms in one of my novels. Thank you.

JFK con-tributed in

many ways. My first

rapproche-ment to

letters, at least as

a listener from a school

desk, was with Miss

Corzo.By Karla Ríos

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PHOTOBOOK

miss carol BradyMiss Carol Brady shared with us some images

of her life at the JFK.

JFK'SFacebook Alumni PageEnjoy these protographs! Thanks to our alumni who have downloaded these to our John F. Kennedy Facebook page.

you can access the page at the following link:http://www.facebook.com/exalumnos.kennedy

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