Scholarship Program
We work closely with the Episcopal Diocese of Honduras and Deanery of Yuscaran. Our Spiritual Advisor in-country is The Reverend Dagoberto Chacon, who also serves as our Honduras Education Coordinator. Reverendo Dagoberto, together with Reverenda Lourdes del Carmen Herrera, work closely with the villages we serve. They know the families as well as the village teachers and community leaders. They and other leaders in each village carefully select students for enrollment in our Education Program. The child selected in a family for further education is frequently the one who earned the highest grades during the elementary education terms, and it is a painful selection process to watch as parents choose who among their children will and will not get this opportunity.
Selection Process
The students are interviewed, and the selection team completes an assessment of each student considering the child’s ability to satisfy academic requirements as well as the student’s character and behavior. The Honduran team works closely with the U.S. Honduras Good Works Education Committee. However, we take our direction from the onsite Honduras team.
Honduras Good Works then provides the financial resources to cover the fees, transportation, books and uniforms for students enrolled in the school year. We know that the best way to make a lifelong difference for a rural Honduran youth is to make it possible for him or her to continue their education past the sixth grade.
Higher Education
70% of our high school graduates express a desire to continue their studies in some form of higher education–a trade school or a university. In the beginning, students’ highest hopes were to become a school teacher. Now they speak openly and enthusiastically about wanting to be a doctor, engineer, or lawyer. Many express interests in mastering a trade to become skilled craftsmen like mechanics, carpenters, electricians and so on.
While our primary mission is to support these teens in completing their high school, we do set aside 5% of scholarship donations to assist a few students in trade school or university.
Long Term Goals
- Increase the number of students in secondary school to 300
- Build secondary schools in the villages we serve
- Groom our own teachers in these villages so they stay after graduation and teach in their own communities
- Provide college and trade school scholarships to students who qualify for higher education support.
Education Committee
Brian McDonough – Chair
Members
USA: Cindy Smith, Brian McDonough
HONDURAS: Diana Sofia Rosales | Selvin Dávila, Armando Aguilar