Newsletter Fall 2021
Entering our 13th year of supporting Telchac Puerto students.
“Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”
John R. Wooden
Our new website address is https://www.telchaceducation.net
Telchac Education
We are currently helping 24 scholarship students: 1 in primary school; 6 in secondary; 5 in senior high; and 12 in university. Like last year, this year they are not receiving uniforms, shoes, nor backpacks, but do receive monthly payments for their internet.
Yo Hablo Ingles
English conversation classes have started again, on Tuesdays & Thursdays from 4-4:50, with a maximum of 6 students. Our theme this semester is: ‘Being A Tourist’ - which we hope will make using English valuable to the students. So far, we’ve done a basic review, introductions, and asking for and giving directions. We’ll also cover ordering in restaurants, buying tickets, booking hotels, and the airport.
Yo Puedo Leer
We currently have 17 grade school students in the program - 8 physically, and 9 virtually.
The in-house program runs on Mondays and Wednesdays, and the virtual on Tuesdays. In the virtual program, the students’ parents come to La Casa de Aprendizaje (The Learning House) to pick up homework and return the last weeks’ work.
Update on Telchac’s School Bus
The school bus - which belongs to the Telchac Puerto government - has not been in use since the pandemic began, but we hope it’s been maintained by the town. In 2010, we held a fun Christmas caroling fundraiser at Marina Silcer to raise funds to renovate the seats and interior of the bus. After experiencing riding on the bus to get to Silcer, we realized that repairing the exhaust, headlights, and windshield wipers were more important, so we applied the funds to those repairs.
The Bill Galt Scholarship
Founded by Robert and Tonia Kimsey and Gail L. Weaver, we have kindly received a $2000 US scholarship with funds raised by the friends of Bill Galt. According to Robert Kimsey, Bill was probably the most interesting person that he ever had as a friend. “Where do I start?” asked Roberto.
Bill was from Georgia and was half Cherokee Indian. He had the appearance and character of his Indian heritage. His care for people and the environment was amazing, maybe only surpassed by his humbleness. You would never know his many successes just by talking with him. My favorite story he told me was that at thirteen years old he was working at Lockheed in Marieta, Georgia building B29 bombers. He said he was head of the electrical section - "and why was I head of the electrical section? - Because I was the only one that could read''.
Being with Bill Galt was always interesting and enjoyable whether we were working on organic gardening or building a wheelchair arrangement for his ailing German Shepard.
It seemed to us that just sending flowers or donating to a charity was not enough recognition for this exemplary man. Educating a young person seems more in order for remembering my friend Bill Galt.”
The young woman chosen has been with Telchac Education since 4th grade, and now wants to study Business Administration at the technological school in Progreso. It's a 4.5 year career. She has worked in various businesses during high school and sees that this is something that interests her. Her parents are helping her to look for housing in Progreso, as the bus system is not do-able. They are both very supportive of her getting an education, even though neither went past 6th grade in school. We feel confident that this student will complete her technical education!
The University Students - AKA ‘Scholarship in the Time of Covid’
Due to being unable to hold the Full Moon Jazz festival (FMJ) this year, we have had to reduce the stipends paid to the university students. They now receive refunds for their internet payments on a monthly basis. The majority of the students are taking their classes online, so don’t have costs for transportation, housing, food, etc. As we are still unsure what will happen next year with FMJ, we are not taking on any new students, as we want to ensure that the current students can graduate. These funds for the university students are drawn from a general fund - ‘The Pot’ - which comes from funds leftover from last year and donations. We especially want to give a BIG round of applause to the kind donors who sent us the price of a ticket to FMJ, or the ticket price plus what they estimate they would have spent at the FMJ that never was!
Student’s Thank you Notes
Since we founded the program in 2008, the students hand wrote their thank you notes to their sponsors, then Susan, Michelle and I translated them to English when necessary, then we put them in an envelope with the students picture and grades from the precious year. With one of us always going to the US for Thanksgiving, that is when we would mail them.
This year we are going digital and want the students to write their letters, use Google Translate, take and scan their
pictures, and send all this to us. We will then forward each folder on to each sponsor.
We believe this will give the students some new skills (using Google translate, scanning, etc.), so let’s see how it goes.
La Casa de Aprendizaje – The Learning House
Cement repairs have been completed on the Casa, with the materials and labour being paid for by the Mayor! As we are now leaving the rainy season we’ll be painting the exterior soon, and expect that we and our students’ parents will donate the labour. We’re working on cleaning up the yard area, especially as we hope to use it to enable social distancing when the students are there.
Sponsor a Student!
100% of all donations go to our students. Any expenses such as gasoline, phone bills, photostatic copies, etc. are out of our own pockets.
These are our past prices. We are now asking for any donations for ‘The Pot’ - which funds our university students during the Covid-19 pandemic.
How Much Does Each Student Cost per Year?
Grade School: $145 USD
Jr. High: $175 USD
Sr. High: $225 USD
University: $225