Updates

Last week, a new school year began in Ecuador. As any parent, caregiver, or education professional knows, the beginning of the school year can be a hectic time! 

Clothes and shoes that fit (isn’t it crazy how much kids grow in one year?), school supplies, and adjustment to the daily school routine are just a few of the things needed to prepare students for success. As part of our Scholarship Plus Program, we supported 180 young scholars with new uniforms, shoes, books, and supplies to start the year off right.

These students come from the Mission Home, as well as some of the poorest families in our area. Our goal is to reduce barriers to success in school, and give every student the chance to start the school year well. 

In addition to student support, we also focused on ensuring teacher success when returning to the classroom. Specifically, in our English program, we sent the whole department to a 3 day training in Guayaquil. The continuing education conference was hosted by Cambridge. Our English teachers shared that they learned valuable skills about student engagement, focusing on conversational language and practical skills, and creating dynamic lesson plans across English language levels. 

We sent the entire English department from the Mission School to a 3 day continuing education conference in Guayaquil.

Finally, we made some simple infrastructure updates at the school that will hopefully have a big impact. We bought 6 new projectors for the entire school and built 59 tables and 220 chairs for the primary school. The projectors will be used across the Mission School to better engage students in learning, as well as aid teachers in advanced lesson planning. And the new tables and chairs continue to replace old plastic desks, and will better allow for collaboration in the classrooms of our youngest learners.

Some of the new projectors prior to shipment! The projectors ensure adequate learning environment at the Mission School.