Project Report
| Sep 19, 2024
Scholarship Students Attend Their Awards Ceremony
By Marian Latham | CAA Member and Project Writer/Editor
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On July 13th The Education Committee of CAA had its Beca (Scholarship) Awards Ceremony in the meeting room of Coopenae, San Ramon, Costa Rica. Nineteen students were given vouchers which are redeemable in various stores in San Ramon such as El Mercadito and Tienda Jonathan where they can buy school supplies, uniforms and shoes for the school year. These vouchers are funded by donations from CAA members and other supporters who contribute to help some of the approximately 23% of Costa Rican children living in poverty. Many struggling, disadvantaged families would not be able to keep their children in school without this help. This volunteer-run program annually supports 24 - 30 area high school students as well as providing a stipend for a university Tico social worker who mentors and assists these Beca students. Our program also provides eye exams/glasses, food assistance, mental health counseling, computers and tutoring for these financially disadvantaged, but motivated high school students. Satisfactory grades and attendance are required for current year and multi-year eligibility. Completing high school opens doors for future vocational and university studies, and provides a path out of poverty. We expect to have 36 high school graduates (some of these students have been in the program since 5th or 6th grade), at least 10 university entries and 3 bachelor’s degrees earned through the end of 2024. CAA is very proud of our students’ achievements and through your generous donations, we hope to continue supporting this very worthwhile, educational program.
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May 23, 2024
An Honor Student and An Artist
By MarianLatham | CAA Member and Project Writer/Editor
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An Honor Student and An Artist
Magdelena, one of the students in the Community Action Alliance’s Scholarship program, is a 6th grader who has been on the honor roll at her elementary school since 1st grade. It has not been an easy accomplishment, but she has persevered despite her mother’s stomach cancer and father’s struggle to find work, and she has been successful with the help of her extended family and her own work ethic and belief in always “ doing your best”. Not only has she excelled academically, but she was recently awarded 3rd place in the entire country of Costa Rica for her painting of “What Costa Rica Means to Me”. Students in the entire country competed in this contest and the 1st and 2nd places went to much older, experienced students, so this was quite special. She is becoming bilingual in English and Spanish with the help of some of our Education Committee’s English tutors and since I am one of these tutors, I can truly say that she is a joy to teach!
It is through the generosity of donors to GlobalGiving that we are able to provide necessary school supplies such as uniforms and books (and even painting supplies occasionally) for students like Magdelena, and we are very proud to celebrate her accomplishments!
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Jan 23, 2024
A Giant Step Towards Educational Success
By Marian Latham | CAA Member and Project Writer/Editor
A Giant Step Towards Educational Success
The Education Committee of The Community Action Alliance is delighted to announce the donation of 10 new Dell Laptop computers to our Beca (Scholarship) students. When student volunteers and their chaperones from a Texas youth organization visited us recently in San Ramon, Costa Rica, each of the volunteers carried one of the computers in their backpacks. And now, these computers are ready for distribution to 10 fortunate Beca students thanks to Noelia, our social work intern and Alisson, her mentor, who spent many hours deciding who among our students had the necessary Wifi and motivation to learn this new - to them - form of technology. Most of these students have never used a computer so to aid them in learning this new tool, University of Costa Rica’s Technology Department is donating staff members who will spend 5 Saturday mornings teaching these students basic computing skills. A volunteer from Community Action Alliance was instrumental in finding a very competent computer technician who spent many hours reconfiguring the computers into the Spanish language and 2 other dedicated CAA volunteers donated their time making sure that their work spaces would contain the necessary apps, folders, images, setting, etc. that the students would need to be successful. It was definitely a group effort on the part of the Education Committee and our high school students will benefit immensely from this effort. Thanks to everyone for all the help and for the efforts of these young people and CAA volunteers We continue to be thankful for the support and generosity of organizations such as GlobalGiving which provides such tremendous help to our Costa Rican scholarship students!
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