Lake Houston Rotary President Eric Gomez congratulates new member Dr. Kayla Price on her presentation of her passion for the native peoples of Panama and to the studying of their language. The presentation was to members on the club during their first meeting of February. Since she is a new member, Ms. Price also introduced herself to the members by sharing her personal and professional story.
Last week’s Lake Houston Rotary guest speaker, Dr. Kayla Price, is a new member to the club but she is no stranger to Rotary. She’s a third generation Rotarian. Her father, Michael Price, is also a member of Lake Houston Rotary.
It’s not just family connections to Rotary. Dr. Price experienced Rotary first hand as an exchange student living in Germany from 1997-1998.
Dr. Price provided personal and professional information about her life before sharing her passion for the indigenous people of Panama where she lived while studying their language as part of her graduate studies at UT Austin.
On the personal side, she lives in Kingwood with her husband and blended family of four children. Professionally, she a certified financial planner, tax and wealth advisor, business planning, insurance planning, retirement planning, legacy and estate planning.
While attending Florida State University, she pursued her dream of becoming a professor of linguistic anthropology and studied abroad in Spain, Panama, Mexico and Vietnam. She made a career change in 2014 to financial planning.
Her studies in Panama led to her passion for the indigenous language of the Dulegaya (also known as the Kuna). She spent most of her presentation sharing the history of Panama and the life and language of its native Dulegaya with a slide show of photos, maps and even the sounds of their unique language. She also presented a sample of their clothing.
She lived on a tiny island with 900 natives in a bamboo house without plumbing to study the Dulegaya’s oral language for her master’s degree. With such a small village, everyone one knows everyone else and your personal business, she said. Their currency, amazingly, is coconuts. She learned how their culture is sometimes similar and different with other cultures.
She continued her graduate studies at University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the indigenous language of the Dulegaya, also known as the Kuna.
She continued her graduate studies at University of Texas at Austin, specializing in the indigenous language of the Dulegaya, also known as the Kuna.
Overall, her presentation provided an interesting glimpse into the lives and culture of Panama’s native Dulegaya.
For more information about the Rotary Club of Lake Houston Area, visit our website at www.LHARotary.com or be our guest at our one of our regular Noon, Wednesday meetings at the Lake Houston Family YMCA, 2420 W. Lake Houston Pkwy. in Kingwood.