SMU to welcome students from Chicago San Miguel

Sixth-graders from the San Miguel School in Chicago are visiting Saint Mary’s Oct. 19-23 and Oct. 26-30.

San Miguel is a Christian Brothers’ mission school, part of a nationwide network of schools dedicated to teaching underserved populations of urban and rural school children. The Chicago school, located in a Mexican-American immigrant neighborhood, serves primarily children whose first language is Spanish, but they are also fluent in English.

The goals of the program are to acquaint these children with college life and begin to inspire them to consider post-secondary education. The program also gives Saint Mary’s students – particularly education students – the opportunity to work with urban children from another culture.

While in Winona these students stay with Saint Mary’s host families. The program has fostered a close relationship between San Miguel and Saint Mary’s. Many Saint Mary’s alums work or volunteer in the San Miguel Schools.

Saint Mary’s is still looking for a host family for each of the two weeks. The first week, a female student is in need of a host family that does not possess a dog. In the second week, two boys are looking for a family to host them. Being a host family is a great way to represent Saint Mary’s and the Lasallian community at large.