Thank You BECA Team 07-08!
The following article was written by 2007-2008 Sixth Grade Teacher Anderson Heston. We thank Anderson and his teammates: Paul Stephens, Elizabeth Ohito, Paxton Kirsh, Kyler Arnold, Hazel Ryerson, Erika Sturm, Kaitlin Turck, Raina Milne, Kurt Sarsfield, and Thiago Oliveira for their perseverance and dedication in serving their students throughout this academic year. We hope they will return to Cofradia often to follow their students' progress in the years to come.
We're so proud of and grateful to each of them not only for their daily service in the classroom, but also for the many ways in which they went above and beyond the call of a teacher's duty in serving their children this year... planning extracurricular activities, visiting students' homes often, organizing special school events, and innovating when new ideas were necessary. Their students and the community of Cofradia will certainly not forget them.
SJBS Graduation 2008
By Anderson Heston, 2007-2008 BECA AlumnusThe 2007-2008 year at San Jeronimo Bilingual School came to a fitting end on Saturday, June 28, as more than one hundred students, teachers, and guests gathered for ceremonies commemorating the graduation of San Jeronimo's Preparatoria, sixth grade, and ninth grade classes.
All told, twenty-three students will be moving from Preparatoria to the first grade, and twelve students will be entering the seventh grade in the SJBS colegio. Having completed the highest grade offered at SJBS, the four graduating ninth-graders will continue their bilingual education in nearby San Pedro Sula.
In addition to honoring the graduates, two former members of the SJBS staff were also honored as the padrinos, or godparents, of the ceremony: Jon Barber, sixth grade BECA teacher for the 2006-2007 school year, and Dona Kenya Paredes, who served as secretary for the school from its opening in 2004 to December of 2007.
In his address, Mr. J.B. emphasized to the graduates and to the assembled crowd the importance of being lifelong learners, comparing the natural human thirst for knowledge to a plant's need for sunlight and water.
"Show me a person who is no longer learning," he told his audience, "And I'll show you a flower that has stopped growing."
"Despiertese!" Barber repeatedly urged his audience, exhorting them wake up to the wonders of the world around them.
After the ceremony, the assembled crowd sat down to enjoy a dinner prepared by parents in the school community, with music provided by a mobile DJ service. Long after the sun went down and the guests had all gone home, a few exhausted but happy teachers could still be seen dancing to bachata in the school hallway.
Celebrations continued the next morning, as BECA's team of American volunteer teachers and their Honduran colleagues gathered at the volunteer house to share a brunch and remember a year of working together. A variety of breakfast delicacies were provided by the BECA team; particularly popular were Miss Paxton's homemade coffee cake and traditional Jewish challah bread. After eating together on the back porch of the volunteer house, the assembled guests exchanged gifts and words of thanks, and another successful year at San Jeronimo Bilingual School was brought to a close.
