A Kansas University student’s compassion for a Costa Rican community where she was murdered nearly three years ago lives on in a newly opened English language center that bears her name.

Monday was the first day of classes at the Shannon Lucile Martin English Center in Golfito. The center was built inside the Costa Rican Coast Guard Academy and is being used to teach English to Golfito residents for free and to Coast Guard cadets.

“I had been told that there was a great need in Golfito for the center,” said Jeanette Stauffer, Martin’s mother.

Martin was only a few days from graduating from KU in May 2001 when she was murdered in Golfito while walking to her residence after a night out at a disco. She had been in Golfito finishing a class project to collect rare fern samples.

The Shannon Martin Foundation was started a few months after her death. The English center was built with $2,000 contributed from the foundation. An additional $8,000 was used to pay for instructional computer software developed by the U.S. military.

Stauffer worked with Mario Barrientos, director of the Costa Rican Coast Guard, in planning the English center. English is important for Coast Guard cadets to learn because they work with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard in trying to stem the flow of drug traffic aboard ships in the area, Stauffer said.

Invitations also were sent to 30 Golfito businesses encouraging them to have employees sign up for classes at the English center.

“The businesses are all involved in tourism, and they need people to speak English,” Stauffer said.

The response has been overwhelming. Stauffer said she was often recognized by people on the street who stop her and ask her interpreter what they can do to get in the classes.

6News video: English center in honor of KU student opens Slain student’s mother urges aid for victims (2-3-04) See more on the Shannon Martin case

“We have a waiting list,” Stauffer said. “I could easily get 200 or 300 people at the snap of my finger.”

Stauffer said she was happy that something positive developed after her daughter’s death.

“I can’t bring Shannon back no matter what I do, but I can do something to help the people that she loved,” Stauffer said.