Megan Herrera, President
July 16, 2022

Without a high school diploma in Nicaragua, it is difficult to do an entry-level job we often do as a high school student in the US. Due to transportation costs, uniforms, school supplies, etc many rural Nicaragua youth cannot attend high school without the help of a scholarship. We’ve been focusing on this effort since 1995, seeing more than 3000 graduates since our start.

However, what happens after the students graduate? Can they go to the university without outside support? The answer to this used to be ‘most students cannot’, but that is drastically changing.

The national technical schools have been welcoming our students into their programs, teaching them a trade. The skills being learned include computers, English, cooking and banking, sewing, agriculture, farm management, barbery, motorcycle repair, cell phone repair, among other trades.

Just this year, more than 350 of our scholarship students have learned a trade that will allow them to earn an income. When they graduate high school, they will have a hard-earned diploma but also a certificate for their trade. These two achievements will pave the path for our graduates to earn funds to pay for their own college.

As always, with a little bit of support our students are surpassing our expectations and creating a more sustainable future.