Jonle Sedar ’91 grew up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Liberty High School in 1987. At Moravian, she majored in history and French. Afterward, she studied for a master’s degree in international development at American University. “During graduate school, I took a semester off to learn Spanish and chose to study at CPI Spanish Immersion School in Costa Rica,” says Sedar. “I fell in love with the language, the country, and the school, so I was thrilled to move there and secure a position with CPI [Centro Panamericano de Idiomas].”
Sedar is the administrative director of the Groups Department at CPI. The school helps students of all ages perfect their Spanish language skills but also provides opportunities for those students to immerse themselves in the culture and experience the country. “What I love most about my work is engaging with students interested in an experience abroad that is authentic—one that involves personal growth by way of the expansion of cultural capacities through second-language acquisition,” says Sedar. “It is so powerful to observe students’ newfound cognizance in appreciating the cultural parameters of others."
“I simply would not be the person I am today without having traveled.”
“I am very invested in global understanding,” continues Sedar. “I fully see living abroad as providing an opening for an expanded sense of community, which leads to a greater level of consciousness.”
Sedar tells CPI’s middle and high school students that she had no idea how different people’s lives were until she began to travel. “I simply would not be the person I am today without having traveled,” she says. “And, in turn, experiencing new cultures helps me to be a better American, as I continue to understand, also, that within our own country there are so many subcultures and subtle dynamics—a level of diversity that makes the United States so strong and a powerful model.”