GCCC course to link Panama City, Mexico

PANAMA CITY - Merida, Mexico, has become a favorite travel destination for area civic and business leaders with its sister city and port links to Panama City.

A Gulf Coast Community College history professor said he wants to educate students about Merida's connections to Panama City and Mexico's unique history and culture.

Professor Patrick Brennan is organizing a nine-day trip to Merida and other Mexican destinations in the Yucatan Peninsula in May 2009 for 25 students.

The trip will count as a credited class with an estimated cost of $2,484, Brennan said. That includes airfare, accommodations, meals, departure fees, travel insurance, tuition and books.

Brennan stressed that, though he wants students to have fun, they also need to approach the trip as an academic endeavor designed to better understand Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula.

"I want them to have more than just a good time," Brennan said.

He already has started recruiting for the trip, and will hold the first of two informational seminars at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the Gibson Lecture Hall.

In addition to Merida, trip participants will also visit Mexico City, Uxmal, Guadalupe Shrine, Chichen Itza and the Teotihuacan Pyramids. As an Irish history instructor at Florida State University-Panama City, Brennan led a similar student excursion to Ireland, also for course credit. Brennan said the Mexico trip will allow students to get a glimpse of the country's growing middle class. "This may surprise some people,' he said. GCCC students will be expected to complete some sort of exit project related to the trip, Brennan said. He said that could be in the form of a photo essay. Panama City first established links with Merida in 2003, when it signed a sister city agreement between the two cities.

The Panama City Port Authority signed a sister port agreement with Port of Progreso, which serves Merida, in July 2008.

Brennan said he has had conversations with Wayne Stubbs, the port's executive director, about the area's business links to Merida and the Yucatan.

He said he might join Port Panama City and Bay County Economic Development Alliance officials on a scheduled mid-November trade mission to Merida and Cancun.

The college also has planned a 12-day trip to China in 2010, with participating students looking at the inner workings of Chinese business culture.