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The San Jeronimo Bilingual School.
The San Jeronimo Bilingual School.

When the call came for volunteers to help out at an alternative community school in Cofradia, Cortes, Honduras, four Hamilton students stepped up and organized an international service trip that will take place during Hamilton's spring break, March 19-26. Sarah Griffith '06, Emily Gunther '06, Julia Daly '08 and Johanna Sanchez '08 will work at the San Jeromino School, at the suggestion of alumna Lauren Fisher '05, who teaches second grade there. In particular the presence of women is a powerful and largely absent influence on children at San Jeronimo.

According to Sarah Griffith, public education in Honduras is notoriously bad, with under-resourced teachers serving classes of 40-100 students. Due to poor working conditions and irregular paychecks, public school teachers are often on strike for weeks at a time. As a result, alternative schooling options are needed.

The School:
San Jeronimo Bilingual School is an alternative community school serving 150 students and families in the community of Cofradía, Cortés, Honduras. A small parents' association founded San Jeronimo in 2004 and maintains responsibility for operating the school - including SJBS's basic funding and growth decisions.

BECA (Bilingual Education for Central America) is a U.S. based 501(c)(3) non-profit that supports San Jeronimo by recruiting and supporting a qualified group of volunteer teachers. BECA also provides scholarships for approximately one third of San Jeronimo's students. As a result of this collaboration, the wealth distribution at the school is representative of the wealth distribution in the Cofradía area. Cofradía wealthy (relatively speaking) and poor are learning and playing together at the school, promoting long-term understanding and community. BECA was founded by another Hamilton alumna, Jaime Tackett Koppel '98, and alumnus Matt Thornton '98 was one of the school's original volunteers.

Teachers at the school function with very few resources and considerable ingenuity. They have no classroom budget, no class sets of textbooks, and no shortage of eager children. Donations of school supplies are brought down or sent down periodically from the United States, and BECA is working with the school towards a model of sustainability that will guarantee the school's long-term success.

Ultimately, San Jeronimo is currently sustained through the hard work of the parents and volunteers and the support of donations.


Hamilton's Role:
There are numerous projects on San Jeronimo's "to do" list that, when completed, will make a big difference in the quality of the educational experience. Among projects for the Hamilton students are building and organizing San Jeronimo's small library, planting a school garden with the children, working with students to design and paint a mural on the wall, painting cement block classrooms some color other than gray or building picnic benches so the kids are not eating on the ground.

San Jeronimo also needs volunteers to work in the classroom as teacher's assistants, reading buddies and tutors. Capable, active, female college students are often the most effective short-term volunteers as they are often able to make a positive, lasting impression on female students. This is typically true because while the school encourages female students to play sports, enjoy math and science, and speak out, local role models to reinforce girls' abilities in these traditionally male-dominated arenas, are limited. The presence of a group of adult women simultaneously modeling these behaviors reinforces the messages San Jeronimo is committed to providing to girls.

The trip is supported by the Womyn's Center at Hamilton College and the Kirkland Endowment.

 

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