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Benemérito De Las Américas: The Beginning Of A Unique Church School In Mexico, Barbara E. Morgan

BYU Studies Quarterly

In 1957, President David O. McKay instructed Church leaders to investigate creating Church-sponsored schools in Mexico. The vision of Church leaders reached beyond educating the students and focused on training faithful Latter-day Saints that would teach and influence children and youth throughout Latin America. Marion Romney and others assessed the educational needs of Church members in Mexico; membership in the Church reached twenty-five thousand by 1961. They worked to find and purchase land, develop building plans, and select directors for these Church schools. They created a society that had the legal authority to purchase land and run schools in Mexico, …