From Boardroom to Honduras: Witnessing Impact and Transformation Among the Students We Serve

It was like a light bulb going off! Sitting in our first graduate resource center, listening to our visiting high schoolers talk confidently and clearly about their experience studying at SCITA (The Center for Technological and Agricultural Innovation), where E2E had helped them receive scholarships, to a room full of E2E Board Members, community leaders, educators, and peers, made me instantly see the amazing impact that E2E is making on the lives of rural Honduran youth. More importantly, it made me recognize the potential they have to transform themselves and their communities.

But I get ahead of myself. Let me start at the beginning.

This summer I found myself in Honduras for the first time in my life on a field visit, one element of a bi-annual trip the E2E Board Members make to deepen our understanding of our program and the challenges faced by the communities and youth we support. On this trip, the Board spent four days visiting schools in the Departments of Francisco Morazan and Comayagua, as well as the Cantarranas NIDO (graduate resource center). I joined the E2E Board last year because I believed that E2E’s synergistic approach, combining education, leadership, and community service, could be game-changing. My visit last month proved that in several ways.

One way was during our visit to Pajarillos - the community where E2E started its first secondary school in 2011. We heard presentations from current students, former students, and educators. Parents also shared their experiences including the father of two E2E students, one currently in 8th grade, who dreams of being a motivational speaker, and one graduate who has gone on to pursue an accounting degree at the Catholic University of Honduras. The father described how the education his boys have received is opening opportunities for them he could never have imagined. He also talked about how that inspires him and others in the community to support their kids staying in school, recognizing how the value of education translates to a more prosperous, healthier community. One of the best things about visiting that school is meeting Ariel, the current teacher who himself was a student in that very school in the early days of E2E. He went on to receive his teaching degree and is now fulfilling his dream by returning to his community and helping others down that pathway. Now that's what I call sustainability!

We observed another example of impact during our visit to La Sampedrana, one of the newest communities that E2E supports. There we heard from community leaders about the dreams they have for the new secondary school and were treated to an assortment of traditional Honduran dance performances, including a special presentation by the 1st and 2nd graders which culminated in an unexpected dance lesson for the whole Board!

But the most enlightening aspect of that visit was a walk to a small open space in the village where students are starting a seedling nursery. This is a community development project designed, managed, and maintained by the E2E youth leaders in the village. The students recognized that while the village grows significant amounts of coffee as a cash crop, very few vegetables are grown there, necessitating traveling to Comayagua about an hour away to purchase fresh produce. The students decided to start a seedling garden, planting bell peppers and tomatoes which in about 2 months will be given to women in the village so that they can start their own household gardens and be donated to low-income elderly community members. The goal is to increase vegetable consumption to improve nutrition, and reduce the seasonal food shortages they experience before coffee harvest time. It is a great example of the community service and leadership components of E2E's program.

Finally, there was the visit to the graduate resource center in Cantarranas also known as NIDO (or "nest" in English) - first established in 2016. In a municipal building donated to E2E by the local government, and in partnership with national universities and trade schools, E2E provides a range of classes and services beyond those taught in school including life skills, computer training, university prep and others. The NIDO serves as a bridge linking graduates from our secondary schools to work and higher education opportunities to guide them on their path as young adults.

Students shared their experience at the NIDO, including a group of 15-year-olds who attempted to demonstrate their newly gained computer skills, but struggled getting connectivity. Recognizing their demonstration was going to fail, the young women leading this turned to the room and shared that being able to respond to unforeseen circumstances – like they were experiencing at that moment - and adapting to that situation is one of the great skills she has learned by attending NIDO programs. Sitting there I was struck by her grace and ability to confidently move “off script,” all incredible life skills that will support her wherever she goes in life. To see this in a young teenager gave me great optimism for the future.

Finally, there were the students who are attending SCITA, where they are learning advanced agriculture techniques and supporting functions like marketing and business management. They talked about what they are learning, but more importantly why they think it is important and what they hope to do after they complete their education. What struck me was not only the poise and clarity with which they spoke, but more importantly how they all were motivated to take their education and use it to improve the farming practices back home that are the lifeblood for their families.

This desire to give back and return to, rather than flee, their struggling communities and contribute to creating a better life for the inhabitants, was the most heartening message. It gives me great hope to see that commitment knowing that the only real way to drive sustainable change in those communities is to have educated community leaders find opportunity in the places where they were raised to make them better. It was great to see the young women in this group speaking with such confidence when in Honduras, like many places around the globe, girls and women are too often discouraged from finding their voice. Seeing these 15-year-olds demonstrating that wisdom particularly inspired me. In them, I felt like I was witnessing the catalysts of generational change that will shape a new future for every rural community impacted by E2E.

-Ted Volchok