Paul and Laura Manship, Author at Shoulder to Shoulder, Inc.

March 12, 2020August 18, 2023

What a Beautiful Adventure it is

By Nely Vasquez – StS Educational Advancement Assistant

Nely with 1st Place Winner Lucy

What a beautiful adventure it is — to take a seat and enjoy a wonderful enchanted journey. It is a feeling that can’t be described, a world that only your imagination can give you. Through a book, you can get into any world you want. This happened with the children of our bilingual school in Camasca through a reading contest.Do not read by obligation, do it for fun, smile, live, love, enjoy it. Be aware! With every book you read, you are entering the mind of the person who wrote the book and wants to share their world with you. Begin to be like Lucy, a fifth-grade student in our bilingual school, who fell in love with reading and at the age of 11 years, has now read more than 50 books! – not common in a culture where reading is not a habit.

This project was the first of its kind and being in charge of it was a big challenge for me. It made me feel honored … I was trusted with the first annual Shoulder to Shoulder Reading Contest. We had to plan the project and decide on prizes. We decided to give a big prize to the student who had read the largest number of books.

At the very beginning of her adventure, Lucy’s goal was to win first place in the competition only because of what first place meant, but then it became a hobby and at the end of the contest she continued reading as she had been doing every day. What was really rewarded was her dedication and enthusiasm for reading. I don’t think that I will ever forget when Lucy told her teacher one day: “Miss Jessy, can you please call my dad? I need to tell him that I am staying after class to read.”

Although all the kids were wild about the reading contest, it seemed like it had the biggest impact in the fifth-grade classroom. Students there read as much as they could: they went to read at recess, at lunch, at all times, they even got to school early and stayed later than usual. One of them was Noé. Even though he did not read the most, all his reports demonstrated how much he dove into the books. I was always excited to see the proof that he actually understood and comprehended what he read – much like Nohely’s and Keylin’s reports.

Limits exist only in your mind; the best prize that reading can give you is knowledge. But keep in mind that it is not a book that gives it to you, but your desire and inclination towards reading. Whether you read due to obligation, fun, a challenge, a goal or just out of curiosity, it takes you to a wonderful place.

Fifth Grade Winner Nohely

December 28, 2019August 4, 2023

Making An Exceptional Impact

By Minsis Ramos – Coordinator of Educational Advancement

Oneyda and Efrain (3rd and 5th from the left)

What drives people to do things with dedication and passion? This is a question that has millions of answers because in this world everyone works towards individual goals; however, some goals bring people together in order to accomplish them. This is what happens in the Southern of Intibucá, Honduras. We are all working hard and with a dedication to accomplish one goal: to provide a STEM education in all the frontier!! We are working shoulder to shoulder to make it possible!!While we work hard to get to meet our goals, it is important to recognize the effort and leadership role that people take in the process. This is what Shoulder to Shoulder and Learning Equality did this past week when six of our teachers were awarded for their outstanding leadership with CREE’s Kolibri project.

Elementary Teachers

Efrain and Oneyda are teachers at the elementary level. Coming from a very rural area, neither one of them had prior knowledge of how to use technology to teach their classes. Nevertheless, they have shown that everything is possible when people are motivated. The teachers worked many extra hours to map the Khan Academy lessons onto the official Honduran Curriculum. By the end of 2019, this school has become one of our models, not only for how they have been using the equipment but also their methodology to teach their little learners.

High School Teachers

A number of High School teachers have demonstrated their enthusiasm by unselfishly teaching other teachers the best strategies to deliver quality education to their students. Also, one of these leaders (Josias) had the initiative to enroll his students in the Physics Olympics. Three of his students made it to the national competition! In addition, Josias used Kolibri to prepare himself to take the national test to be the lab director at the High School. Guess what? He passed the exam!!

These amazing testimonies motivate us to keep working hard. Each one of these teachers is making an outstanding and exceptional impact in the frontier community!

Meeting with Teacher Champions

Josias, Physics Teacher

November 21, 2019August 28, 2023

Water Filters Bring Smiles (and Improved Health)

By Laura Manship – Executive Director

Volunteer Lizzie Distributing Water Filters

Thank to donations from the Wisconsin Rapids Rotary Sunrise Club, Shoulder to Shoulder was able to purchase 33 water filters.The water filters were given out to 33 families who participate in our Childhood Nutrition program — a program in which children from 6 months to 5 years of age are given monthly micronutrient supplements. These supplements, called Chispuditos, help to prevent stunting, malnutrition, anemia, and other health problems. The addition of water filters will ensure that the children are drinking clean water, and thus reducing the incidence of diarrhea and other stomach ailments which are so deadly to young children.

A special thanks to our intern, Lizzie Morris, for taking responsibility for this distribution. Thanks, Lizzie! (Lizzie is the smiling American in the photo above.)

The staff reported that the families were so excited to get the filters, that they waited 2 hours for the filters to arrive!! (As you may know, the roads are largely unpaved, and we had a bit of difficulty with the transportation. But, the filters finally arrived!)

A great big THANK YOU to the Wisconsin Rapids Rotary Club and to all who support StS’s Nutrition Program.

Families Proudly Carrying Their Water Filters Home