[spacer height=”20px”]It is well established that students succeed in their education when caring adults in the school are involved. Certainly, the teachers employed by Nicolás Christian School are of the highest caliber and genuinely do care for our NFE scholars. Students who feel connected to their school also perform better and are less susceptible to risky behaviors such as drug use, early sex or crime. We want our students to feel that they “belong to” and have pride in Nicolás Christian School. What can NFE supporters personally do to create a culture of connectedness to Nicolás Christian School and help our students feel cared for? Participate in Impact Team trips to personally meet and encourage the students. Attend monthly prayer meetings to pray for each student by name and for staff at Nicolás Christian School. Develop a personal relationship with a particular student and family through sponsorship. Obviously, this is best accomplished through Impact Team trips but other means of communication is under development with NFE. For example, Zoom video conferencing is available so that you can have a personal conversation with a student. Sponsor to student written communication can be carried by the three teams traveling to the school. NFE does not permit the giving of gifts to individual students, however. Your provision of education is the most important gift that you could ever give a student. We want ALL students to feel cared for. Work with other friends in a project to prepare greeting cards with encouraging messages or scripture bookmarks for all of our students. These cards or bookmarks would be carried to the school by Impact Teams. This is a great project for a small group or …
Impact Trips: Don’t Miss the Adventure of a Lifetime!
[spacer height=”20px”]Spend a week with God and the rich community of the Ixil region of Guatemala to lift students up from poverty through education. [spacer height=”20px”]Impact Teams visit the new school spending time with our Nicolás Christian School students and families. Teams make day trips to the local villages of La Bendición and La Esperanza or other NFE villages. Rewards of Going on an Impact Team Trip Make Real Friends Be Filled with a Deeper Experience with God Transform Lives through Love Be a part of God’s Justice Mission in the World Adventure: Caves, Waterfalls and Mountains You May Be Showered with Flowers! Join us on an Impact Trip With just five simple steps, you can begin a life-changing adventure. This is what you need to do to join us on an Impact Trip to beautiful Guatemala. Read the Nicolás Fund for Education Handbook for important information about the area and people that we will be traveling to, as well as information about the work of the Nicolás Fund for Education. Complete the Impact Trip Application. Complete the Background Check Form. Email your Application and Background Check form. Mail your $100 deposit. 2018 Impact Trips July 20-30 November Graduation 2019 Impact Trips February 15-25 Want to Know More?
Winter School: An Innovative Approach to Prepare 7th Grade Students
[spacer height=”20px”]Facing Challenges Many of us remember feeling quite insecure and overwhelmed when we entered 7th grade. Nicolás Fund for Education scholars are no different! Our NFE scholars also have an added challenge of coming from primary schools with far fewer resources than more urban schools. We even found out a few years ago that the villages of La Bendición and La Esperanza did not even have textbooks! (Thanks to a generous NFE supporter, we were able to supply those two village primary schools with their first set of primary school textbooks.) Innovation at Work In our first few years of operation, we noticed that our NFE scholars really struggled to keep up academically in the first few months of 7th grade. With extensive after school tutoring provided through NFE and lots of hard work on the part of the students, the students eventually caught up. Our Country Director, Ivan España, searched for a better plan that would be less stressful for students and would be more cost-effective for NFE. Thanks to the work of Ivan España, Nicolás Fund for Education subsequently developed a program three years ago called Winter School to help prepare our 7th-gradestudents for academic success. While Winter School camps are more common in urban Guatemala, this concept is new in the Ixil region. Winter School is four weeks long and takes place in November after the academic year ends at the end of October. Making the Grade This year, Winter School took place on our Nicolás Christian School campus and involved students from five villages! Eighteen 6th grade students attended winter school. Computer, English, and language skills are the focus of Winter School. We have definitely …
Thank you to our #GivingTuesday Donors and Volunteers!
Thank you to all our volunteer social media ambassadors that participated in #GivingTuesday! And a really BIG thank you to the donors who responded! We raised $6,250 (some matching funding still pending may increase that number) that day because of your generosity. Those donations will help to provide quality education for Ixil youth that will enable them to compete economically, politically and to better provide for their future families. It is not too late to donate! Donations are very welcome. You can donate at Nicolás Fund for Education.
Thank You to our Donors, Supporters and Prayer Warriors
[spacer height=”20px”]At the conclusion of our first year of operating Nicolás Christian School, and the 5th year of NFE’s existence, we want to give thanks to God and to those people who helped make it all possible: our donors, supporters, and prayer warriors! You have faithfully partnered with God in his plan to lift the Ixil region out of poverty through educating Ixil youth. This year alone, eight students have graduated from high school, one student graduated from weekend school and one student graduated from her distance learning program!! May we all continue to listen and follow God’s plan for our work in 2017! We wish all of you a hope-filled New Year!
Nicolás Fund for Education Explores Social Entrepreneurship
[spacer height=”20px”]Social entrepreneurship occurs when individuals and companies develop, fund and implement innovative solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. [spacer height=”20px”]One example of a social entrepreneur is 2006 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammed Yunis, the man that popularized the micro-lending concept in India to provide small loans to poor women to start small businesses. His objective was to help poor people escape from poverty by providing loans on terms they could understand and manage, and by teaching them a few sound financial principles so they could better manage their finances. Social entrepreneurs must have a good understanding of how a problem impacts people, particularly the marginalized and poor, in order to develop creative solutions and identify available resources to solve those problems.[spacer height=”20px”] [spacer height=”20px”]Unlike traditional businesses, the goal is not profit making but instead to provide solutions that benefit society. If there are any profits, those are usually reinvested to expand the business to serve more people. Businesses must be designed to be financially and ecologically sustainable, however. Global organizations have developed to support and encourage innovation and leadership through social entrepreneurship. [spacer height=”20px”]These organizations offer technological and business consulting expertise to create comprehensive, well researched, successful small business plans. These organizations can provide start-up capital, promote networking, collaboration, and partnerships and assist with media communications to tell the story effectively, to teach and to promote greater impact. In November, NFE Vice Chair Kathy Riper, NFE Treasurer Lolo Levy and her sister Sara Wells and team member Dave McKnew met with Andy Lieberman to learn more about social entrepreneurship opportunities in Guatemala. [spacer height=”20px”]Mr. Lieberman is employed by Santa Clara University in California, which has a commitment to …
July Trip Registration
[spacer height=”20px”]We are now accepting applications for our July 21-31, 2017 Impact Trip. [spacer height=”20px”]The application and enrollment instructions can be found here. We will be hosting a regional Teacher Professional Development workshop on this trip, so educators are especially encouraged to come on this trip. If you have never been on a mission trip, an experience like this will deepen your relationship with God as you serve him, as well as creating lasting relationships with our NFE scholars and your fellow team members. Make this your 2017 New Year’s Resolution!
NFE Textile Sale December 4th
[spacer height=”20px”]Come and join us! [spacer height=”20px”]NFE is having a special event on December 4th at 11:30 am where Guatemalan and Mexican textiles will be sold at Evergreen Covenant Church in the Fellowship Hall. NFE has a special friend, Hazuki Camp, participating in our sale. Hazuki used to attend ECC when she was attending school in Seattle. Hazuki volunteered at Agros during that time. She is from Chiapas, Mexico where Agros has villages. Hazuki now lives in Beaverton, OR with her husband and three young children. She works with Trebol, which is a coop of women who make beautiful, handmade leather and embroidered products. Hazuki will be donating a percentage of her proceeds to NFE. Following the Textile sale, a Trip report will take place.
Nicolás Christian School Graduation Held November 15th
[spacer height=”20px”]Ten senior high students graduated from Nicolás Christian School on November 15th in our very first graduation ceremony! Eight students graduated from high school, Juanita graduated from a distance learning program administered through Nicolás Christian School and Juan Ismael graduated from a special weekend básico program (somewhat like a GED) that allows the student to work during the week and attend school on the weekend. Graduates included Ana Cordova, Pedro Davíd, Magdalena Sara, Antonio, Maria Abigail, Andres Israel, Miguel Julio, and Domingo Marvín. Gold honor cords were awarded for academic excellence to Ana Cordova, Magdalena Sara, Pedro Davíd and Miguel Julio. In addition to our graduating high school students, six students graduated from junior high school on the same day. The graduating 9th-grade students are María Yat, Isabel Rebeca, Pedro Isaías, Sylvia Lucrecia, Isabela Elda and Andrés Noé. It will be exciting to follow the progress of these new high school students next year! It was a very worshipful ceremony with praise music and scripture readings. In Guatemala, we were told that it is traditional for graduation ceremonies to name their graduation for a specific person. Nicolás Christian School students chose NFE vice chairperson, Kathy Riper. Kathy gave a short speech expressing her gratitude for what God has achieved through Nicolás Christian School in the lives of the students. A PowerPoint about Kathy’s life was part of the ceremony. Brand new royal blue graduation robes and caps were accented with bright red sashes that had the school logo embroidered on one side and a traditional Ixil weaving pattern embroidered on the other side. Graduates, staff, parents and guests were treated to a sumptuous lunch after the ceremony ended. Several …
Give A Gift That Changes Someone’s Life For The Better!
[spacer height=”20px”]Support Nicolás Fund for Education through the Bellevue Presbyterian Church Alternative Gift Market this Christmas! [spacer height=”20px”]Buy a share of a laptop computer for Nicolás Christian School for $60, or purchase shares of musical and sports equipment for $40/share. (Our dream is to amass enough musical instruments to form a marching band for Nicolás Christian School! ¡Marching bands are muy popular in Guatemala!) AGM shares can be purchased with checks or cash at Bellevue Presbyterian in the lobby on December 4, 11, and 18th. If you buy in the BelPres lobby, you will be given a gift card to share with the gift recipient. Alternatively, AGM purchases can be made online with a credit/debit card. Thank you for your support of NFE! The AGM catalog print version can be picked up at Bellevue Presbyterian Church.
