Christine Brady and her School of Hope in Tijuana

In 2009, Sharon Boorstin wrote an article for Family Circle Magazine about Christine Brady, a 51-year-old mother of three who had quit her engineering job in San Diego 20 years earlier to build and run a school for the neediest children in Tijuana. With the help of donors, volunteers, and award-winning SoCal artist James Hubbell, Colegio La Esperanza rose among the ramshackle dwellings on a Tijuana hillside, its Gaudiesque white-washed stucco classrooms decorated with colorful mosaics. In this course, Sharon interviews Christine and her daughter Emily, who attended the school, about their experiences at Colegio La Esperanza with courses ranging from English and Spanish, computer science, to music, art, nutritional ecology (organic gardening), and dance. They also will share how Tijuana has changed over the years, becoming not only a center for manufacturing, but a focal point for international refugees. This course uses the Hybrid format which allows students to participate remotely and/or in the classroom. This course will be recorded. Students will have access to videos for 30 days.