Beatriz C. Fantini
Celebrating motherhood
Beatriz Fantini is a professor emerita at SIT, where she worked for 50 years. She is a freelance writer and has published short stories in her native Bolivia and in Venezuela. Her husband, Alvino Fantini, is an SIT professor emeritus.
Where experience has been the best teacher
At the School for International Training, a small learning community in Vermont continues to reach across the globe after 60 years
Beatriz Fantini is a professor emerita at SIT, where she worked for 50 years. She is a freelance writer and has published short stories in her native Bolivia and in Venezuela. Her husband, Alvino Fantini, is an SIT professor emeritus. BRATTLEBORO-Most universities were founded by people who believed in...
What - or who - is a Vermonter?
To be taken for a local obviously takes more than just enjoying apple pie with cheddar cheese. It is a process that evolves slowly over time.
When I moved to Vermont, 56 years ago, one of the things I was told by many locals who have been living here for years was that you are not a Vermonter until you enjoy apple pie with cheddar cheese and sugar on snow, accompanied by a doughnut and...
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With Afghan resettlement, SIT educators once again 'expected the unexpected'
Experiential education has been at the core of all School for International Training/World Learning programs since the start of the organization in 1932. Whether it's spending a summer abroad, attending a semester of studies abroad, or participating in one of our graduate programs here in Vermont, the emphasis has always been on experience, participation, reflection, and discussion. This same approach was evident in a recent training program for our new neighbors, a group of Afghan refugees. When we learned that...
Russian hostility at the birth of Ukraine’s independence
It was the fall of 1991 - only a few months after Ukraine became an independent nation. I was there with three other women contracted by the U.S. Peace Corps to train local language teachers to teach Ukrainian to the soon-to-arrive first group of Peace Corps volunteers. The group to be trained consisted of Ukrainian and Russian teachers. Both Ukraine and Russia were going to start receiving Peace Corps volunteers the following year. The training site was a former army...
Annual auction supports youth photographers
Is a picture worth a thousand bucks? This could very well be the case during the In-Sight Photography Project Benefit Auction, now underway. Local, national, and international artists have donated 109 works to this annual auction, which started 23 years ago. This special event is the biggest fundraiser activity for the project, with funds providing scholarships for local students to participate in the nonprofit's photography courses. In-Sight was originally founded one day in 1992 when two local educators, Bill Ledger...
The foreign becomes domestic over time
I grew up in Latin America, mostly in countries where one was considered either “white” (of Hispanic descent), Indian, or a mixture of both. So, I grew up thinking I was white. Then I came to the United States and discovered I was brown. But I was not alone. Many of my friends from Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Venezuela who back home were considered “white” were also going through a similar rebranding process here in the U.S. We first became...
A country goes from riches to rags
It was once the most affluent country in Latin America. The average person owned a car, and even those living in the poor outskirts of its major cities had a refrigerator, a gas stove, and a television set - things then considered luxuries - even when they did not always have access to running water. I lived in Venezuela with my parents and sisters from 1954 to 1964. Exiled from my native Bolivia after a revolution, arriving in the capital...