As a teenager still attending school, Modesta is a bit of a rarity in San Rafael. In 2010, there were just two junior high students in the village. A year before, there were none. But unlike the rarity of Guatemala’s national bird, the quetzal, secondary students are becoming more and more common in San Rafael, [...]
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Exploring the new world of books
Whether you call him Curious George or the “small, brown monkey,” the little guy has a story to tell. His antics can be enjoyed by parents and preschool children even if no one can read the words on the page. That’s the idea behind our Reading Promotion Initiative, which teaches parents how to share books [...]
A new door opens in San Rafael
Despite the pouring rain that fell in San Rafael two weeks ago today, more than 65 community members gathered to inaugurate the beautiful new junior high classroom. The project was initiated by junior high school principal Priscila Martinez, and San Rafael community leaders, the Ministry of Education, and Common Hope all worked together to look [...]
New library for New Hope
“I’ve always believed we plant seeds during our lives, in the things we do, though we may not see them bear fruit,” says Jacqueline Figueroa, reading and creativity promoter. At the inauguration of the renovated New Hope library, she says, “I got to see the impact we can have.” Former students at the celebration, now [...]
Measuring the effect of books and words
Perhaps the single best predictor of a child’s success in school is the number of words he or she knows. The greater a child’s vocab, the better a child does academically and, later on, professionally. This is a key understanding of our reading promotion initiative, which helps parents develop their children’s vocabulary before they get [...]
Four sibling duos graduate
Graduation season is upon us in Guatemala, culminating with the Common Hope graduation ceremony on Saturday, November 10. This year, we celebrated 146 high school graduates from Antigua and New Hope, 11 junior high grads from San Miguel Milpas Altas, 21 sixth grade grads from San Rafael, and 8 graduates from university. One notable subset [...]
