August 2008 Newsletter

17 Years for Mayatan, and counting....

With the close of the 2007-08 school year, Mayatan Bilingual School celebrated the completion of its 16th year! We are excited and proud to have become the premier bilingual school in the area. We have grown from just a few students in small wooden buildings to having 300 students on a beautiful campus.

As our foreign teachers begin arriving; and students (new and returning alike) come in to register, see their classroom and find out what supplies to bring on the first day the excitement of a new school year builds. The staff has been preparing classrooms, mowing the grass, washing windows, and doing everything else needed to make Mayatan Bilingual School a special place for our students to return to for their first day of school on September 1. Several students are still seeking sponsors for this year.

Invest in Mayatan

At Mayatan we feel that the scholarships we award to our students are so much more than simply gifts. Rather they are the way that we are preparing our next generation of leaders by investing in their futures. At the same time we view the contributions that come to us through monetary donations, or goods that are sent, such as books or items for our Science Lab to be investments from wonderfully supportive likeminded people who wish to extend education opportunities to students from all walks of life. When a person invests money in a business, there is a certain amount of Return on Investment, or ROI, that can be expected. While the return you will receive from investing in Mayatan is not a monetary one, it is even more important-there is, instead, a Social Return on Investment that occurs. By putting your investment to work, Mayatan is helping students to find a “pathway out of poverty” by gaining a solid education and becoming bilingual. That is a return on your investment that cannot be measured in dollars and cents (or Lempiras!).

Megan Collins-Richards - New Academic Director

Megan Collins-Richards has joined the Mayatan staff again this year-this time to serve as Academic Director! A former Mayatan teacher (2003-2005), Megan is thrilled to have the opportunity to support the 2008-2009 volunteer teachers, and work with the incredible students, parents and Honduran staff of the Mayatan community once again.For the 2003-2004 school year, Megan taught first grade; she is excited to celebrate the 6th grade graduation of her former first graders this coming June (she hopes to see other former teachers return for this event as well!!) Megan received a B.S. in Elementary Education and a B.A. in Spanish in 2001 at George Fox University, where she firstbecame aware of Copán Ruinas and Escuela Bilingüe Mayatan, thanks to her Spanish professor, Viki Defferding. Megan is a licensed teacher with an ESOL/Bilingual Endorsement in the state of Oregon, and for the past three years has been teaching in a Dual Language Immersion program in Canby, Oregon. In the summer of 2006, Megan helped to organized a month-long tutorial program for a group of 30 Mayatan students. Megan has made two other visits back to Copan, before finally returning this summer in the role of Academic Director. She is so happy to be back and is looking forward to another wonderful school year at Mayatan!

Jay A. Babcock - New Director of Development

Mayatan Foundation has a new Director of Development! Jay A. Babcock has had a relationship with Mayatan since early 2004 when he was offered a teaching position by former director Lindsay Hill. Although he chose not to join the staff at that time he began sponsoring a student who just completed third grade with flying colors. Jay made his first visit to Copán Ruinas in 2005 - and happened to meet Megan Collins-Richards and many other current Mayatan staff members. After making more visits in 2006 and 2007, Jay became more and more involved with the efforts of the Foundation and, last October, accepted the position of Director of Development. Since that time he was working on designing Mayatan's new website and increasing its use of technology before officially joining the staff in May 2008. Jay comes to Mayatan with a B.A. in Elementary Education from Florida Gulf Coast University and an M.A. in Educational Technology and Leadership from the George Washington University. He has taught students from three years old to adults in Florida, Mexico and New York, as well as worked for non-profits, such as Goodwill Industries and Coalition for the Homeless; and academic institutions, such as Canterbury School (of Fort Myers, FL) and Brooklyn College of the City University of New York. Jay has said of Mayatan Foundation: “it is wonderful to see an organization so dedicated to improving education opportunities for the children of Honduras and to grant them the opportunity to learn in English. I am proud to work for Mayatan and hope to enhance the organization's efforts as it grows to serve even more students.”

A MAP to the Future - the Mayatan Assistance Program

Many people have sponsored students by paying the full costs of tuition and sometimes even for books, uniforms, meals and transportation. Mayatan and those fortunate students are very grateful for such generous support. We also understand that a great number of people wishing to support students at Mayatan Bilingual School are not able to contribute the full amount; meanwhile there are 55 students who do not have sponsors for the full amount of their scholarships. For that reason we will be implementing a new campaign to support our neediest students. The Mayatan Assistance Program, or MAP, will allow donors to Mayatan Foundation (whom we like to refer to as investors in the futures of our students - see article ‘Invest in Mayatan’ for more information) to contribute to the costs of providing scholarships to students at Mayatan Bilingual School at any level which they feel comfortable. By joining this program, investors will become a part of the Mayatan Family and begin receiving pictures, notes and grade reports from some of the children that are benefitting.

Medical Brigade

In the summer of 2008, Mayatan was once again able to play host to a group from Global Health Outreach and their work to provide low-cost medical assistance to those who cannot afford medical attention. For one week our classrooms were converted into examination rooms where medical professionals from dentists, to ophthalmologists to podiatrists were able to meet with patients. Another group also visited some of the aldeas-outlying villages that dot the landscape surrounding our small town of Copán Ruinas. The visitors came from the United States and had varying levels of Spanish-language ability. Mayatan students acted as translators so doctors and patients could communicate. This is an excellent example of how Mayatan students are not only learning English, but using it effectively to make a positive impact on their community. Well done! You can see some pictures in our PicasaWeb Album.

Sam Harding - a new sponsor to Mayatan

In June a group of grandparents and their grandchildren on an Elderhostel Organization Intergenerational program came to Copán Ruinas as part of a trip to Honduras to visit Maya ruins, Caribbean beaches and otherwise gain a greater understanding of Honduras. Mayatan was delighted to play host to a football match between the grandchildren and some of our students. Indeed, viewing our campus and meeting some of our students inspired Sam Harding (one of the grandchildren) to become our newest sponsor. Sam is just 11 years old! An avid Boy Scout, he is entering 6th grade at Manchester Park Elementary School in Lenexa, Kansas where he is active in the school's music program (plays the violin) and Art Club as well as playing on baseball. football, and basketball teams. Sam decided that he would like to provide an opportunity for Isaac, who was featured in our previous newsletter and is also entering 6th grade, to continue his studies at Mayatan through the end of 9th grade. From everyone at Mayatan we are very excited to see such a young man become a part of the Mayatan family.

New Tuition Rates

You have no doubt noticed the increase in prices that seems to have spread from the gas pump to the cost of food and other necessities of life. In Honduras, as well, we have seen high inflation - on average the cost of living has increased by as much as 30% in Copán Ruinas - electricity alone has gone up by 125%! As well, the cost of running a quality bilingual school has also increased as we must pay more for the basics of transportation, uniforms, books, and meals that are provided for our neediest students. Our expenses to provide for our international teachers has also risen as we must now pay more for rent, visa applications and living stipends for. Faced with these rising costs and after long deliberation Mayatan Bilingual School made the tough decision to raise its tuition rates. Much care and caution went into this decision as we do strive to keep the costs of the school accessible for “students from all walks of life”. We have only raised these amounts by an average of 22% with the resolve that we will “do more with less” and they are still far less than other comparable schools in Honduras.

Students Seeking Sponsors

As always, there are many wonderful students at Mayatan Bilingual School whom have been awarded scholarship but are still awaiting for someone to sponsor them. This issue of our newsletter spotlights three of those students:

Connect To Us

We know that many of the readers of the Mayatan Newsletter use the internet for a variety of things whether it be to write a blog, keep up with friends on social-networking sites, or even manage an entire website. For that reason, a new page has been added to our website. This page details all of the different ways that you can show your support online for Mayatan Foundation. Methods such as adding us a friend on MySpace, viewing videos on YouTube or subscribing to our RSS news feed are all listed there so please check it out and connect to us! Please visit our ‘Connect To Us’ page.