Project Description
SAN JERONIMO BILINGUAL SCHOOL
San Jeronimo Bilingual School (SJBS) is located in Cofradia Cortés, Honduras. Cofradia is a township located some 30 miles from the industrial capital of Honduras, San Pedro Sula.
SJBS is BECA’s first community partner school and is located in the town of Cofradia, about 30 minutes from the business capital of San Pedro Sula. SJBS goes from preschool to 9th grade. BECA does not own and operate SJBS. The school is governed by the democratically elected Association of Honduran parents (ASPAPRO), a Honduran nonprofit organization. In this collaborative fashion, BECA provides volunteer trained English-speaking teachers to SJBS at minimal cost, which allows tuition to remain low. Additionally, SJBS allows BECA to operate a scholarship program ensuring that people from all economic backgrounds can attend SJBS.
SJBS opened its doors in 2004 to 113 students and a few brave volunteer teachers! Since that time we have grown to our max capacity of 260 students (25/classroom max.) with a staff of 15 BECA volunteers and 5 Honduran educators.
After honing our program’s model over the past fifteen years, we have begun to see the fruits of our labor. Out of BECA’s first 157 graduates, 155 matriculated high school (99%). Our oldest graduates are now working as engineers, translators, call center operators, teachers and more! Given the limited resources of the community, this represents an exceptional success rate and indicates to us that not only have our students been academically prepared, but their parents have been equipped to creatively address the increased financial commitment entailed in sending their children to bilingual high schools.
“BECA is so important to Hondurans because they give us educational opportunities to children whose parents have very limited resources. I am in awe that BECA teachers are volunteers who come to teach at San Jeronimo with so much love, dedication, and a spirit of service. My biggest desire is that the children and youth will apply that they have learned here for the rest of their lives. I thank BECA for giving me the opportunity to be a part of this great team.”
