BajaBlanca
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Posts: 13165
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
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Scholarship student grades - SMART KIDS!
All the students have sent me their grades (CALIFICACION or abbreviated to CALIF. in Spanish) from this semester that just ended. I must say, I am so
pleased and thought I would share since many, MANY of you have supported them with tuition, monthly expenses, help with a dentist, bus fare to come to
the yearly Christmas meeting, graduation costs, passports and so much more … whew! We really are a village here.
HERE IS THE HIGH SCHOOL GROUP PHOTO 2016
Alondra (majoring in Industrial Engineering) has been through so much and has come out a star! In the last 4 years, her grandmother died (they were
very close), her dad died, her brothers were in and out of trouble with drugs. It has not been an easy, but here she is, heading into her last
semester internship.
HER GRADES
Here is our future dentist, Karla Valeria. She so loves her profession and has really aced her classes from day 1. She was slated to be interning
with a dentist friend of Caj13 this summer but that ain't gonna happen now. Caj21 even went to the dentist and had a filling while sweet talking his
amigo LOL
HER GRADES
Here is Olimpia, our future attorney. I will never forget how she was the student with the highest grade on one of her extremely difficult FIRST
SEMESTER classes. Her professor made a mention of her in front of the class!
Now, she is in her last semester and will be graduating at the end of the year. Boy how time flies!
HER GRADES
And here is Lizeth (Business Mgmt.) This was Lizeth's second semester and I could not be more proud!
Her English teacher passed away (not covid19) and those grades have not been added yet.
HER GRADES
Edgar is majoring in computer science. Not all of the grades have been posted but I would venture to say they will be more of the same!
This was Dayr's last semester in Business Admin. He has 2 classes to go, he is taking 2 extra classes this summer to be better prepared for his
internship which starts this August. Pretty good grades too!
I could do all 14 students but surely you get the picture. It humbles me to think that if we were not doing this together, these kids would not be in
school, would be relegated to repeating the difficult life their parents have.
I can't wait for tomorrow but I am so bummed that I cannot hug them all.
Thanks every single one of you for the kind words and the financial aid.
NO new students this year and perhaps one next year. Her name is Lesly, she is a junior in high school and I have been helping her out on the side
for a couple years now. She was my English student in middle school.
She is coming to the breakfast get together tomorrow for the 1st time. It is important for her to see what it is like to reach for a dream.
She also sent me her grades and her overall GPA is 98%.
Thanks again. That's all for now, folks!
[Edited on 7-25-2020 by BajaNomad]
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elgatoloco
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Posts: 4323
Registered: 11-19-2002
Location: Yes
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MAGA
Making Attorneys Get Attorneys
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advrider
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Posts: 1847
Registered: 10-2-2015
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So good to see, you've done so much!
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BajaBlanca
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Posts: 13165
Registered: 10-28-2008
Location: La Bocana, BCS
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Thanks!
Here is how it all started.. I was teaching English at the high school and had a very difficult class. I was their first real language teacher,
prior to my coming they had used that hour for a break. They rebelled against my being there.
I have always offered, in all the private schools I taught ESL at, to take the most difficult, usually very advanced classes. It gives me great
pleasure to win the students over, but this beginners class was giving me a run for my money.
For starters, the class was way too big, I think there were 38 students in a not big enough classroom. I even wrote to my high school history teacher
to get his advice on how to deal with them. I wish I could remember what his advice was but alas, this was back in 2012. I can barely remember what
I had for breakfast yesterday!
My theory has always been that it is my job to win students over. I tend to do it with a combination of making the class very fast, and I mean very
fast, so that they are so busy they don't have time to act up any more than necessary. I also poke fun at myself. One of the funniest scenes I can
remember is throwing myself on the floor to show what the word DEAD meant. I was very young when I did that, if I had to do it today, well, suffice
it to say, someone would have to pick me up off that floor.
But I digress. Let's get back on topic. One day I am in the secretaries office here in La Bocana and I overhear a conversation about some family who
cannot cover their student's tuition. TUITION? In a public school? Turns out that parents must pay tuition and some other expenses. It is not much
but the families were struggling. I had saved up some money from translations I was doing and covered all 5 students' payments with the caveat that
they would meet with me and study English in a smaller group during lunchtime, as well as keep an A average in all classes.
I jumped ahead to college and started discussing what they would study and where they could study. I had absolutely no clue what was involved, but
these were great kids, smart kids, and I wanted to do something.
First step was to create an evaluation sheet for each one and I had them choose a different teacher to evaluate them every month.
Here is a picture of Julian's folder created in 2012
This is a photo of his first monthly evaluation sheet
I mentioned to Les that I intended to find funding for all 5 kids to go to college. I swear to God, his words were ARE YOU CRAZY? I bet you can
picture rolling eyes. Now ,I admit that I was scared to death! Really, thank goodness that I was so focused on college per se that I did not think
through rent, food, transportation, books.
We had made friends with a couple that first came to vacation here in La Bocana. He was an educator turned vineyard owner (Pescatore Wines). He and
wife Patty eventually bought a lot that they were camping on it. They had invited us to dinner there when I had this brainstorm so I put together 5
folders for all 5 kids, the one above being one of them and I said: I will drop these off for them to peruse, If they are interested, I will go on
with the project.
I did exactly that. I wrote a blurb on each student, I included a year's worth of monthly evaluations. Tuition for college came to $75 dollars for
2013. Four wanted to attend college in La Paz and one in Santa Rosalia.
Two of the students that year were twins Clarissa and Graciela. Their Dad had passed away and the Mom had a cocina economica, tiny restaurant in
Punta Abreojos.
Patty and Dave called me the next day and said they wanted to sponsor the twins! So began a wonderful experience, albeit not without its setbacks.
Graciela got pregnant and dropped out since one of the rules is that you cannot get pregnant nor impregnate someone. She was majoring in Law and so
so so smart. She asked to come back into the program but I did not allow it - that would have set a really bad precedent.
Alfonso simply dropped out his LAST SEMESTER. He could not get it together his last year. I cried many a tear over him because it was so much time,
energy, OPM and a future gone down the drain. Because of him, I have become so much more stringent about establishing rules that the kids must adhere
to while in high school. I now exclude them from the scholarship project at the drop of a hat if I am not convinced they are 100% serious. The
parents then call me up but I am adamant about not caving in.
Three of the five in the first group of scholarship recipients are the ones who now have full time, permanent jobs and brilliant careers. Alexis
works at El Boleo in Santa Rosalia and he says no one has the virus. He has worked thru the pandemic, the only change is that the Korean owners are
not traveling back and forth to Korea since all this craziness started.
Julian works with IMSS. Lifetime position.
Clarissa is a professor at the university (UABCS) she went to in La Paz. She comes to my Xmas parties, with her mom, every single year to help me
out. She has a table and is my paperwork organizer. Both will be here later on today for the summer get together.
Christmas in July!!
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advrider
Super Nomad
Posts: 1847
Registered: 10-2-2015
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Amazing how it all started and has grown so much. It's good to see people on this site and else where helping with the $$$$, you put in so much time
you shouldn't also be the banker..
Always nice to be able to give a little back to a country that we enjoy so much!
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