During
her academic career at the College of Saint Benedict, Profe Cuddy
enjoyed immersion learning experiences in Guatemala, Nicaragua and
Costa Rica. She was also exposed to the International Baccalaureate
Middle Years Programme while student teaching. She completed her B.A.
in elementary education and taught Spanish in grades 4-8 at FAIR School
in Crystal, Minnesota. Profe Cuddy taught kindergarten at Urban Academy
Charter School in St. Paul before joining the team at Lakes
International Language Academy. She was a teacher at LILA from Sept. 2005-Jan. 2007, when she left to serve in the Peace Corps. From 2007-2009, she was a health and hygiene program facilitator in rural elementary schools in the western highlands of Guatemala. (Fun fact: she brought her Guatemalan kitty, Luna, home with her - and she is loving the life of leisure and the variety of cat toys available here in the United States!) She is thrilled to be back at LILA, now with a greater depth of linguistic and cultural knowledge to share.
About her name: in Guatemala all female teachers are known as Seño, the short version of Señora or Señorita, so she decided to switch to that title when I came back to LILA. The ˜ over the n is important! It should be SenYO Melissa, spelled Seño.