By Marlene Sarahi Dominguez-Fernandez, Honduras
“All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor ever perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.” John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address.
We chose this spot for a group picture with many fellow SUSI Scholars 2023, as we visited the JFK Presidential Library and Museum located Columbia Point, Boston MA 02125. This has been one of many cultural complementing activities of our program, which allow us to comprehend and grasp in a deeper way the sense of the American political and economic culture.
The museum tour began with a marvelous windy pouring rain, which got us confused cause there was a perfectly nice weather a day before, but as Katie (our program director) assertively explained to us the New England weather with this phrase “if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes”.
As we arrived, all wet, to the museum, we began the tour with a 20-minute documentary about President John F. Kennedy (narrated with his voice) which gave us a glimpse into his life and previous experiences before starting his political career. After observing campaign recreations from the 1950s and 1960s, viewing Mrs. Jackie Kennedy’s dresses and taking pictures in Mr. Kennedy’s office desk, we wrapped up the tour, with- guess what- better weather!
On Tuesday 11th of July we received an eye-opening lecture by Dr. Caroline Theoharides of Amherst College about The Economic Impact of International Migration: Effects on Origin Countries and Destination countries. As a person coming from a LD country (Honduras) with a great number of migrants coming to the U.S.A. this was a topic I was very interested in since we received our schedules, and it didn’t disappoint. We had a broad discussion with Professor Theoharides and fellow classmates about what is the causal effect of migration on US born wages? And what is the causal effect of remittances on poverty? I came to the realization of the global context of these issues and that it is not only one region’s problem and that most of the time our similarities are greater than our differences.
The SUSI program coordinated by the Institute for Training and Development and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, has been so far one of the greatest professional, academic, and personal experiences of my life, leading to a better understanding of U.S.’ economic situation, sustainable development, leadership, entrepreneurship, and migration.
All opinions expressed by the program participants are their own and do not represent nor reflect official views from the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, or of the Institute for Training and Development, Inc.
