About Us
COSSI - History
For a number of years, the Spanish Faculty at COCC has had its eye on the very successful Intensive Summer Spanish Institute (ISSI) at Lake Tahoe Community College in California. In 2016, Chuck Hutchings contacted Lake Tahoe and the faculty there was more than happy to help us create our own, similar program. Since then we have been collaborating by sharing ideas and materials and our result is COSSI (Central Oregon Summer Spanish Immersion).
Even though we agree that it is not as effective as staging the program in a Spanish speaking country, COSSI in Bend does have the advantage for most people of costing less to travel to while not having to bother with a passport.
We hope that all our COSSI participants finish the week feeling more comfortable with their ability to communicate in Spanish and being much more enthusiastic about finding a way to visit and enjoy the culture of a country where Spanish is the official language.
COSSI Program Team
Chuck Hutchings, COSSI Founder/Instructor
Chuck (Carlos) has been teaching Spanish at COCC since 1992. Prior to that, he lived
in Spain for two years before receiving a Masters Degree in Spanish from California
State University, Fresno. During most of his time at COCC, he has chaired or co-chaired
the Foreign Language Faculty and has organized and led multiple group visits to Spain
and Mexico. COSSI is a natural extension of everything he has tried to do to help
students improve their proficiency in the language and increase their love of the
cultures that give it life.
Dave Engel, Instructional Coordinator
Dave Engel has been a Spanish Instructor at COCC in the World Languages and Cultures
department since 2012. He holds a Master of Arts in Spanish Language Teaching from
Southern Oregon University. He completed Spanish Studies at the International House
in Barcelona and holds a Diploma de Español como Lengua Extranjera from Instituto
Cervantes in Madrid.
Dave has taught conversational Spanish and delivered customized training for business
development for COCC since 2007. He has created immersion programs in Spain for Travel
with COCC where he enjoys sharing his passion for this vibrant culture with participants.
He has been instrumental in the creation of the Central Oregon Spanish Immersion (COSSI)
program and is responsible for recruiting instructors and contributing to the curriculum
development. Prior to COCC, Dave and his family lived in Spain for four years where
he taught outdoor leadership courses.
Stephanie Goetsch, Program Manager/COSSI Coordinator
Stephanie has worked for COCC since 2005. She has been in her current role as a Program
Manager in the Continuing Education Department since 2015. She earned her Bachelor
of Science at University of Oregon and her Masters degree in Adult Education at Oregon
State University. She manages and programs a wide array of non-credit adult learning
programs and has attended Lake Tahoe's summer ISSI program to prepare for her role
in planning for our inaugural Central Oregon Summer Spanish Immersion.