Overnight Teacher

In one conversation, Sherrill went from an unemployed graduate to an advance man for free enterprise in a developing South American country.

Guayaquil's Skyline

The Escuela de Comunicacion Monica Herrera in Guayaquil, Ecuador, is a new school that trains Ecuadorian students for communication careers. Dr. Lucarelli, associate professor of public relations at UT Knoxville, had gone to the school every summer for two-and-a-half years to help develop a public relations curriculum. But she couldn't teach the second half of last summer because of a class conflict at UTK.

She needed a replacement who spoke Spanish and had knowledge of public relations skills. She found Greg Sherrill.

Greg Sherrill as teacher

"Dr. Lucarelli talked to me about the position because she knew I was graduating and had taken upper-level Spanish classes," Sherrill said. "At first I was a little apprehensive about teaching and living in such a foreign environment, but I decided it would be a good experience and gave it a shot."

His experience included everything from improving his Spanish skills to learning about the changing Ecuadorian political and economic environment.

"Ecuador has a very small upper class and an even smaller middle class, although it is growing because of democratic reforms in the marketplace," Sherrill said. "About 78 percent of the country is below the poverty line, and only the rich go to school. I was in a very Americanized environment. They love American things. You would see people who were struggling to feed their families, but they had on Guess jeans and an L.A. Raiders' hat."

But even an Americanized environment in Ecuador took some getting used to for Sherrill. Language difficulties and monetary and cultural barriers challenged him as he tried to adapt to his surroundings.

"The system of living is different," he said. "I had to get used to walking into a market and seeing meat laid out on trays with flies all over it. You just pick it up with tongs, put it in a bag, and move on. Learning the currency system was the biggest adjustment though. They don't use dollars [Ecuador's monetary standard is the sucre], and only the very rich speak English. So if you don't know Spanish and you don't know the monetary conversion, you're in trouble."

In addition to coping with cultural differences, Sherrill found himself in yet another new position -- teaching. He had only been on the receiving end of the teacher-student relationship. Even the most experienced teacher would be a little apprehensive about teaching a class of non-English speaking students. "The students were prepared for my arrival," Sherrill said. "They knew my classes were going to get away from teaching public relations theory and into learning the tools and skills involved in PR, like using computer programs for design and writing press releases or packaging video news releases."

The Excuela de Comunicacion Monica Herrera, where Sherrill taught public relations

Students at the Escuela de Comunicacion Monica Herrera spend their first two years in advertising and promotion. In these classes, they gain a base of knowledge in using media and learning promotions and design. Their third and fourth years are spent in specialization. The offerings include design, creative writing, public relations, and marketing.

As expected, Sherrill's biggest challenge in teaching was the language barrier.

"The Spanish you learn in a classroom is not the Spanish that is spoken in Ecuador," he laughed. "It was the hardest part of teaching. Sometimes the students would have complicated questions but didn't have the English skills to ask, and I didn't have the Spanish skills to answer. So we had to get an interpreter, and something is always lost in translation."

The burden of translation was eased by Sherrill typing everything he would say in a lecture, word for word, and giving it to the students at the end of class. He benefited from a course syllabus Dr. Lucarelli prepared for him. In spite of the unavoidable problems, Sherrill was impressed with how the students adapted to him.

"The students were excellent and very dedicated," he said. "They have a strong work ethic and are interested in learning about the field because PR is playing a greater role in Ecuador. The students see a growing need for public relations in business, because government continues to turn businesses over to the private sector. Our job was to provide the students with the whole spectrum of the PR function so they can learn as much as they would from a school in the United States."

In the past, the Ecuadorian government controlled most businesses in the country, he said. Now it is committed to free enterprise and open markets.

"As more and more areas of government privatize, the need for public relations practitioners will grow," Sherrill said. "For instance, Ecuador has very poor telephone services. The people have lived with it for so many years that they have grown used to it. But when they do realize they have choices in service, that is when PR will become an effective tool. The PR practitioner's job is to communicate that these choices exist, and as the service sector of the economy expands, the middle class will grow and there will be an even greater improvement in living conditions."

Helping advance free enterprise is a large responsibility for a recent college graduate, but Sherrill admits he had some selfish reasons for accepting the position.

Greg Sherrill as tourist

"I want to work in tourism/travel public relations, and I hope this broadened what I can do and makes me a better candidate in the field," he said. "This experience solidified the skills I learned at UT, but most importantly, it proved valuable in learning to deal with other cultures. People are people no matter where they live. They have the same concerns and fears that we do."

Greg Sherrill works for UT Knoxville now. Writer Andy Luttrell, a 1994 UTK communications graduate, lives in Maryville, Tennessee.