Help Feed and Support 600 Students in Guatemala

Graduations were held for our prepa students (kindergarten), 6th graders and 9th graders. The 9th grade students will now start a new adventure attending diverse private schools depending on their career interests. Our Scholarship Department has been working with them for the last year, providing counseling, guidance, and important onboarding about their new school. We know these new schools will provide them with specialized skills and knowledge focused on their career interests.

During the prepa graduation, the little ones prepared a dance presentation and parents were invited to participate in this exciting ceremony. Together they enjoyed a snack during the closing ceremony. 

A couple of weeks after the school year finished, a Vacation School began. It was held from October to November. Students participated in sports, art, literacy, and other exciting workshops.  We finished 2023 with a fantastic celebration, the students and their teachers prepared an assembly to showcase everything they learned during summer school. We closed vacation school by sharing a typical Guatemalan meal for the Christmas season: tamales and hot chocolate. The year came to a final end with the distribution of Christmas food hampers and gifts.

Thanks to the generous support of sponsors, individual donors, and the local community we were able to provide all of our families with these special gifts for the Christmas holiday. 

In January we kicked off the 2024 school year.  This year we welcomed 41 new kindergarten students to the school. It's lovely to see their faces filled with excitement about attending the school, learning new things, and getting to know their teacher and share time with their new peers. They attended “Vacation School '' last year to get used to the routines and familiar with the school and they really enjoyed this experience. Like the rest of our students, they received a snack in the morning and lunch in the afternoon; many of them are not used to the nutritious meals we serve but they are slowly getting used to eating a variety of meals, especially meat and vegetables!

Due to the pandemic, we had to cut back on some of the subjects, such as art, music, and English classes. This year we have been able to teach these subjects again. We welcome the new teachers to our school. We also added two new positions to our social services program. Starting this year, we have a full-time Speech Therapist who is a former EFTC student and a talented Sexual and Reproductive Health Counselor. 

Another very important and exciting activity that took place earlier this year was the inauguration of our science laboratory. Thanks to a donation from the Merck Group, a science and technology company, we were able to purchase the equipment and instruments for our new laboratory. Special furniture was purchased, a sink was installed in the classroom to wash the instruments, and our specialized teacher did a thorough research of all the instruments needed to conduct classes and experiments with our middle school students. We have also purchased two mobile labs for the elementary school, we are sure this will spark the curiosity of our youngest students and get them excited about science and discovering new things.

We are sure that our students will benefit greatly from the new lab, the important subjects that will be taught and the services that will be provided, and we can't wait to see the activities and progress that will develop over the next few months! 

Thank you for making all of this possible!