Blog Archives - Page 4 of 73 - Shoulder to Shoulder, Inc.

July 12, 2023August 29, 2023

Antonio’s Trade for School

Meet Antonio, a colegio bilingual track student. When the pandemic hit in 2020 he dropped out. Yet, I often saw him walking back his classmates from school – he stood out without a uniform. I did not think much of this, but on our director’s most recent trip she reported Antonio had returned to school! Nervous, but confident he sought our director to talk and she was surprised at how much his English had progressed. Antonio shared that he returned to study even after doing remedial classes and being put a year behind his peers. A school administrator also chimed in how Antonio had SOLD his phone to pay for his uniform and supplies.

We could not believe how a teenager had persevered through so many setbacks and was still able to choose over and over again to keep studying. Antonio realized the value in continuing his bilingual education every time that he walked home with his peers.

That is why we need your help to raise funds for our education program to support students, who like Antonio may face many adverstities in our region, yet choose to keep going.

Support Antonio

More than ever your donation means so much to us.

In solidarity,

Mariela Rodriguez

Comunications Coordinator

June 27, 2023August 3, 2023

Igniting the Reading “Spark”

By Minsis Ramos – Assistant Director

We are pleased to tell you about a NEW CHAPTER in our book of continued commitment to foster reading! As our education team continues trekking towards providing a wholesome education for our students, we created a partnership with Proyecto Chispa or “Project Spark.” This non-profit in Honduras focuses on providing books to schoolchildren and preparing teachers to engage creatively with their students.

Chispa training; trainers in 2 corners

Together with the Department of Education in Intibuca, we provided training sessions for 120 teachers. Our Chispa partners covered topics like how to motivate students to keep reading a book they’ve already started and how to foster imagination by asking children to think of alternative book endings. Many teachers not only received the benefit of passing this knowledge on to their students, but also to their own children as many of them are parents too. One teacher mentioned how this initiative complements the digital books already available in Kolibri. Adding how her students come from low-income backgrounds who “couldn’t allow themselves to buy a book, yet in Kolibri we have a great diversity of books. [I am] very happy to utilize this teaching method in my classes.”

With the conclusion of this training we have begun preparing our schools for this year’s reading contest as we create excitement amongst the professors who can then ignite the “spark” onto their students.

Until the next chapter!

Links:

June 21, 2023August 3, 2023

Mayors Lay Bricks for Sustainability

By Mariela Rodriguez – Communications Coordinator

Our Team Meets with Intibuca Mayor to Collaborate

Kolibri is being recognized by local government as effective in engaging and supporting resource limited schools with quality offline content.

When we received our 2021 grant from the Inter-American Development Bank, our education program was able to reach 51 new schools all over the department. It was a quick deployment responding to the covid needs in Honduran education. After the pilot, our team wanted to make sure the schools continued to use Kolibri to its highest potential. For this we upgraded them with the latest Kolibri software over this past winter. The schools were all excited to receive the updated equipment back and the feedback was so great that mayors were calling us to join efforts.

Over the past months, three mayors began laying bricks toward Kolibri sustainability:

** The Mayor of Intibuca (pictured) purchased TVs for all 9 schools in his municipality that received the pilot last year. This fulfilled our sustainability component where communities were asked to put their shoulder next to ours.

** The Mayor of Jesus de Otoro invested in additional tablets and computers for new schools to receive Kolibri, and

** The San Antonio Mayor, who has supported Kolibri expansion in his town since 2019, continued by selecting a municipal IT support staff to be trained in Camasca.

The action of these three mayors furthermore sends a message of support to help make Kolibri a success. Our team continues to meet with other mayors who also want to follow suit, making us excited for future partnerships. Thank you for following our work and supporting our teachers, our mayors and our team.

With Respect,

Mariela Rodriguez

Communications Coordinator