By Lorena Valencia | CEO
HOLA AMIGOS! Thank you for your donations! Due to your generous contributions, Enseña por Panamá! has been able to keep growing, reach more students and prepare better teachers: We have some amazing news and we want to share the story of one of teachers, Karielys, with you:
Before joining Enseña por Panamá, Karileys was working as a psychologist in a well-off clinic near her home but decided she wanted to make an impact in the lives that most needed her. When she joined Enseña por Panama she asked for the most challenging teaching post in the program and was assigned to EBDUM school, one of the top three at-risk schools in Panama City. The students in EBDUM (7th to 9th grade school) had been expelled for academic or disciplinary reasons from their prior school and this was seen as their last chance in the educational system. Karielys was assigned as the ethics teacher (to all students) as well as 9th grade counselor (a group with a 27% graduation rate).
After two years of hard work and dedication, long commute hours and many smiles and tears, she won the first prize in a national competition in value and ethics. Historically, it had been a prize won by seasoned teachers in some of the prestigious schools in the country, but Karielys, a new teacher in the lowest performing school in Panama City was the winner! She had started planning her project over a year ago; she included all classes but specifically targeted the students she counseled. Karielys got in contact with coaching experts and with Enseña por Panama supporters that would help her become her student’s life coach. With the help of her students and their parents, Karielys developed a detailed and realistic life-plan for her students and a measurable road map. It was a feat- the students only dreamed of being soccer players and hair stylists but Karielys motivated them to reach for the starts. She taught them to be perseverant, to be a team player and thrive for excellence in whatever they do. Karielys significantly diminished student dropout rates class and graduated 91% (64% improvement rate) of the students in her counseling group. Parental involvement (crucial factor that affects student drop out), almost nonexistent (5% attendance to school events) before the program, rose to 70%. Kariely’s project was a huge success! Karielys hopes to expand her project to other teachers and students across the country.
Last week we recruited our third generation of teachers; 25 young professionals who will continue to positvely impact the lives of more than 1200 students and their communities. Thank you for believing and supporting our cause!
If you would like to reach Karielys or get to know more about her and her students, please access our website, or write us an e-mail, info@ensenaporpanama.com.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
