Updates on our Scholarship Students!
Our scholarship students have been busy busy busy! They are currently finishing up their second trimester of school and, after a short break, will begin again in August till September. They have all been studying so hard and have accomplished so many amazing things!
I want to start off by congratulating Gabriela Sarai Santos on fulfilling her dream of achieving a Bachelor of the Republic of El Salvador. She was also first place in her section of study, participated in the Acts of Independence, and received First Place in Academic Excellence for her entire school! She plans on continuing her studies at university.
Gabriela and her family with her diploma!
During the last trimester, we really focused on the mental health aspect of the scholarship program. Rocio, our mental health professional, developed several workshops in order to accomplish this. The first workshop focused on managing emotions in personal and professional settings, and her second was on study techniques. This workshop focused on teaching new study techniques to the scholarship students, how to apply their existing study techniques, and what technique works best for the individual student. The latest workshop given focused on the importance of creating schedules to better organize the activities that are done with studying, projects, and other activities. We are so proud that the youth who make up the scholarship program led this final workshop.
However, to mix things up, one of our scholarship students also hosted one of the workshops! Carlos de Paz, assisted by Stefany Echeverria, hosted the topic “Production of Leaves of Life”. He hosted this workshop in order to assist scholarship students upon their graduation. It focuses on immersion into the workforce and was an open space for students to ask questions, clarify any confusing concepts, and clear up any doubts.
We were so incredibly lucky to be able to send two of our scholarship students to the 2023 Scholarship Meetup hosted by the Center for Exchange and Solidarity (CIS). This is an annual forum for hundreds of scholarship students across El Salvador, and this year they gathered to discuss topics related to Human Rights. This is so exciting because was the first time that either of these young women were away from their community, and it was their first time at a sleepaway camp too!
Last but certainly not least, we hired Plataforma Global or Global Platform of El Salvador to host five workshops called Leadership for Social Change. Plataforma Global is a youth leadership organization that teaches young people to be leaders and/or activists within their own countries or communities. They teach what it means to be a leader, how to identify local problems, and what problem-solving techniques are most helpful for which situation. We are so excited to see how they apply everything they’ve learned from these sessions to their daily lives!
