“If you see a problem and want to make a difference before and after, you have to make it vivid,” Ellwood said.

Faust also attended a ceremony on Monday honoring the partnership between Harvard, the Municipality of Estación Central in Santiago, a number of universities, the Fundación Oportunidad, and the ministries of education, health and planning.

The ceremony took place in a kindergarten classroom of the Estación Central School, which was repainted in honor of Faust’s visit.

Faust was welcomed by the mayor of Estación Central, who discussed the importance of Un Buen Comienzo—a childhood education program modeled on Head Start.

Faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Medical School are currently working with the Chilean UBS team to evaluate lesson plans and teaching.

Garcia said that if she were in Chile, she would show President Faust the coast to explore the heritage and local food.

“She would have to have a marisco empanada,” Garcia said of the famed seafood dish.

—Staff writer Zoe A. Y. Weinberg can be reached at zoe.weinberg@college.harvard.edu.

CORRECTION: MAR. 28, 2011

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction.

The Mar. 24 article "Faust Visits Chile, Brazil" incorrectly stated that University President Drew G. Faust was the first Harvard president to visit the African continent. In fact, former University President Derek C. Bok first visited Africa on a trip in 1975.