Walking into the CASS office, students are enveloped in the warm eclectic atmosphere.
Colors – bright reds, greens, and blues –add to the ambiance. There’s art, figures, clay pottery, and posters around the room. Flags for Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, El Salvador, Mexico, Honduras, Jamaica and Panama border the upper sides of the walls. There is a feeling of other worldliness, as if it were an average office in Central America. Sitting down, one may feel the ethnocentricity rising as stereotypes swirl in their head. Margaritas, sombreros, and sun-blazed climates. Is this really what this dancing event is going to be?

But first, what is CASS? CASS stands for Central American Spanish School and is U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funded. The CASS Program coordinator at Mt. Hood Community College, David Sussman, said CASS students from Central America come to one of 11 schools in America based on the major they choose and stay for two years to learn their major and return home. The best of the best earn their opportunity, live with host families and attend school under full scholarships and grants.
MHCC is the only CASS school in the Northwest. The specific major that students in the program come for is Natural Resources Technology. A new group arrives every year, and since this is a two-year program there are always two groups attending. Currently there are 38 students – 18 first year students and 20 second-years. The program has been at MHCC for more than 15 years.

But why is this program necessary? Sussman said these countries are still developing and have limited resources and CASS is a form of foreign aid.

“The idea is that they (Central American students) come here and they study the latest technology and theory and applications on how to manage natural resources,” Sussman said. A lot of the foreign aid is material; countries receive food, medicine and tools. CASS is different in how Sussman says, “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.”

Not only do the students benefit from the experience and the teaching but their homes benefit by having skilled, intelligent people returning home with new and improved ways to teach others and implement in their communities. As a beneficial side effect, America gains respect for helping and better foreign relations, said Sussman.

He also thinks it’s amazing how these foreign students adapt to America and its school system. But, is there a major culture shock? “Yes,” said Sussman. “The biggest issue is learning English.”

Most of these students know very little of the English language and are practically dumped into it and must stay afloat. These students come from rural areas, some without even electricity.

Homesickness is expected and wide spread. In their domestic culture, family is extremely important, and having two years in a foreign country, with a surrogate family, can be devastating. Other oddities for them are a temperate climate and fast, unhealthy food. Sussman reminds that students who want to learn Spanish should travel down and live immersed in Central America.

CASS is planning an authentic dance performance for Welcome Week at Mt. Hood. The event is scheduled for Tuesday, in the Main Mall in front of the bookstore. There will also be a CASS table which will serve to inform about the dance and the program. The purpose is genuine reciprocity, Sussman said. America, more locally Gresham and MHCC, has done a lot for these students and they wish to share their cultural ways with the community. They will also perform at other locations around Gresham, which can be inquired about at the CASS table.

So, what is to be expected with the dance performance? Each of the dances has an immediate connection to the culture of the country, ranging from Nicaragua to Guatemala to Mexico and so on. Nuvia Martinez, a student from Honduras who will be dancing, says, “People think that if we (CASS students) speak Spanish then we are from Mexico. All students learn these cultural dances.”

There are also popular dances to popular music in these communities. Some of the issues dealt with in the dances are, one, the asking permission by the man to date a woman, and another, the making of such foods as tortillas.

These dances are entertaining, with colorful wardrobes, and cultural, an expression of daily life in their communities. CASS also has performances at the Seattle Folklife Festival every Memorial Day weekend that are very popular.

Leaving the CASS office, students may notice that along with all of the foreign flags there is an American flag above the exit. By having the American flag in their office they acknowledge where they are but all of their flags still represent who they are.