Jill Harlow – Valencia, Spain … The twenty students from Campion Academy (CA) in Loveland, Colorado, are halfway through their time in Spain. The students have spent the last two weeks taking intensive college-level Spanish courses with summer adventures in between.

The CA students are divided into various levels, from first timers to advanced, and they are receiving six semester-hours of college credit at different levels during their time here. Each day they rotate through four classes of conversation, grammar, composition, and art and culture.

In the afternoons, the students enjoy trips to the beach or extracurriculars such as art, playing interactive games, or learning worship songs in Spanish. In the evenings, they can have free time to play sports, workout in the gym, or simply relax. Every evening a joint worship is led by local college students who work for the program.

For the group’s excursion day, July 10, the students visited Peñíscola—a place famous for both its beautiful beach and historic castle that juts out above the sea on a peninsula. The castle was built as a residence and fortress for Papa Luna, a pope supported for a short time by France and Spain during the Western Schism when there were three popes in the early 1400s.

Papa Luna lost support for his Papacy and fled to Peñíscola, still claiming to be the pope and holed up in the castle, even surviving poisoning by a group of nuns! “We think he certainly had a beautiful place to reside,” remarked Jill Harlow, group sponsor and CA Spanish and English Language Learner (ELL) teacher.

The students live in the dormitories on campus, and, while they find them generally well-appointed, they are having to get used to life with no air conditioning in their rooms! Spanish summers are known for their heat, and, while the temperatures are mostly in the 90s, the humidity and warmer nights make it a bit more intense for those from and used to living in Colorado. However, everyone is adjusting to the new normal.

“We have also caught the fútbol spirit and have enjoyed cheering on Spain and seeing them win their last two World Cup games!” commented Harlow. “Please continue praying for our students and staff on this trip! Currently, we are on the longest excursion of the summer, a four-day tour of Madrid, Toledo, and Segovia.”

—Jill Harlow is Campion Academy Spanish, English Language Learner (ELL), and Communication director. Photos supplied.