Access to High School in Honduran Coffee Mountains

This month has marked a milestone for us at educate. in our scholarship programme, with our very first students graduating from high school!

Wilson and Lucio are cousins from the village of El Limón. For both of them, finishing high school has been an enormous effort. From their home, they have travelled 1.5 hours a day to get to high school in Trinidad, including crossing back and forth across the Ulua river since the bridge was destroyed in the 2020 hurricanes. Cindy has worked alongside her studies to make her education possible, attending evening school five days a week. And Gerson was able to return to his studies after the pandemic thanks to an educate. scholarship and now, at 24, is a proud high school graduate! All four of these young people are amongst the first in their families to graduate from high school. Watching them grow over the course of their time with educate. has been a privilege and a testament to the power and importance of the opportunities that scholarships can provide.

As the school year has come to a close, we have also celebrated the culmination of another school year for all our scholars. One more year of growth and learning, and one year closer to graduation.

Preparations for 2024 are also underway. We received close to 60 scholarship applications for the 2024 academic year from students across three municipalities, and over the past two months have been conducting interviews and family visits with each student, getting to know each student and their unique situation and challenges. We can’t wait to introduce you to our 2024 cohort soon!

Finally, we are excited to share our very first Impact Report, based on a 2-year study with 89 respondents from across our communities, including our scholars, students at library schools, teachers, family members, and other community members. The report highlights the impact of educate.’s scholarship programme and library projects across multiple dimensions. A few highlights include:

• 100% of university scholars agree: university has well equipped them with the skills and knowledge to pursue their goals.
• 100% of family members would have not considered university as a possibility otherwise available to the scholarship holder.
• 100% of teachers agree or strongly agree that the scholarship programme is an opportunity for the creation of future leaders in their community

Read the full Impact Report here.

As the year draws to an end, we celebrate everyone who makes this work possible – our students, families, team, partners, volunteers, and you! Thank you so much for your ongoing and unwavering support of our work.

Best wishes,

Antonia