A group of Argentine University of Lynchburg students, accompanied by Aaron Basko, Lynchburg’s vice president for enrollment, marketing, and communications, visited the Embassy of the Argentine Republic in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Oct. 10.
“This summer, I attended the EducationUSA international students forum in Washington D.C.,” Basko said. “At one of the networking events, I met a staff member from the Argentine embassy. … As we talked, I shared that we had a sizable group of Argentine students on campus and were expecting more for the fall.
“She was very surprised, because not many institutions of our size and in our geographic area receive a lot of full-time undergraduate students from Argentina. When I came back to campus, I sent her a thank you note for the conversation.
“She replied with an invitation for us to bring the Argentine students up for a visit, since we were within driving distance of the embassy.”
The group, which included 19 Argentine students, took a bus to D.C. on the first day of the recent fall break. Before visiting the embassy, they toured some of the capital city’s iconic sites, including the Lincoln Memorial and National Mall.
Then they toured the embassy and met some of its staff, among them Leo Ragone, first secretary of the embassy’s Political Section.
“Embassy staff members spent about 90 minutes with our group,” Basko said. “They gave an introductory presentation of the workings of the embassy, provided us with a tour, and led a Q&A session with our students.”
Basko said the embassy staffers were “surprised and impressed by how many different geographic places within Argentina our students were coming from. They were also impressed that all of them were planning to be here for four-year degrees.
“They asked them how they liked it, and our students responded very positively about the way they are treated on campus, their interactions with faculty, and the safety and beauty of the area.”
Martine Renda ’28, a first-year communication studies-public relations major, found the trip “really interesting,” and said they “learned some things about consular procedures that it’s important to know, being international people.”
She added that hearing the embassy workers talk about their jobs was beneficial to her because she might find herself working in an embassy or consulate someday. They talked about “what they did and studied to work there,” she said, and their personal experiences of living in different countries.
Embassy staff recognized one student’s surname, Labaque, as being that of an Argentine family that’s well known in the sport of basketball. The student, Tobias Labaque ’27, is a shooting guard on Lynchburg’s men’s basketball team.
“They recognized my uncle, Bruno Labaque, who was a professional basketball player in Argentina and Spain, and my grandfather, Felipe Labaque, who is the president of one of the clubs, Asociación Deportiva Atenas,” he said, adding that he’s proud of his relatives and his dream is to “play as my uncle did.”
Labaque, a double major in financial economics and actuarial science, did his first semester at Lynchburg online before arriving on campus this fall.
“I decided to come to [the] USA because here I can study as I always wanted without stopping to play basketball,” Labaque said. “In [the] USA, I can do both things at a great level. I decided [on] this university in particular because I have many friends and people from my country here, the educational and athletic level are great, and I do love the human support here.”
Basko later wrote Ragone about the visit and its impact on students and potentially the University. “I wanted to express my sincere thanks for connecting with our group … at our visit to the embassy,” he wrote in an email.
“I can tell you it made quite an impression on the students! I wanted to say, too, how sincerely I appreciated your time and insight. I would like nothing better than to give more Argentine students the opportunity to study with us and to work with any companies, universities, or agencies who would be interested in educational benefits.”
After the embassy visit, the group took photos and headed back to Lynchburg, stopping for dinner along the way. “The students seemed to have a great time and were impressed with the opportunity,” Basko said.
“They really loved Washington and were so surprised at how clean and safe it was. I think we made a good impression on the embassy and we have a follow-up meeting scheduled to discuss partnership opportunities.”