We Always Spell Our Success…With a “You”

Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence.     by….Helen Keller

We have some more success to report with the ongoing Spelling Bee contest. But first, let us congratulate all of the students from the Learning Center who competed in the Spelling Bee and Impromptu Speech contest. This is such a wonderful

experience for each of them. Hopefully, we all understand the significant challenge they face as contenders. Beyond the first round, each of the three remaining rounds of competition place the Copey students among much stronger students who typically live in more urban or larger communities. In these larger communities English is more commonly taught and used among Costa Rican students.

These Spelling Bee and Impromptu Speech competitions sanctioned by the Ministry of Education are going on throughout all of Costa Rica!

We had three students compete last week and Dayana won 4th place and Tatiana came in 12th in their Spelling Bee contests. Mariana won first place in the Impromptu Speech competition and will move on to the next level of competition.

Recall that Mariana made it to the Regional Level last year and came very close to reaching the National Level. Now, she has another chance. Also, recall all three students are scholarship recipients supported by “Friends” who contribute to the Anne G. Broady Scholarship Fund. CONGRATS to all! .

More Good News???

The Learning Center will be receiving funds from “Friends” this week. These funds are the results of our fund-raising efforts over the past few weeks. Our first project involved working with a local company (REI) and our Kiwanis Club. We are recommending these funds (over $500.00) be used to help with needed school material and supplies. Then, we also raised funds during the recent “yard sale”. This funding ($400.00) is to be applied to the Executive Director’s position to complete our commitment to raise $2,000.00 in 2016.  Mission Accomplished!

Ana Yancy, the Executive Director, and I now have a weekly Skype meeting (Wednesday mornings) to talk about the Learning Center. This is a very informative time we share. If anyone wants to join us on a Skype session, let me know. You can do it from your own computer and actually see and meet Ana Yancy and her staff…plus some of the students.                                         Lisa B…are you listening?  

Last week, I mentioned we were working on our approval for a second fund-raising event in the Fall with our local business partner, REI. With REI support we plan to raise another $500.00 or more to help the Learning Center before their school year ends in December.

The Learning Center now has two volunteer teachers after replacing one who left a few weeks ago. Being short one volunteer teacher had placed a great deal of additional work on Ana Yancy as she needed to help out by doing some of the teaching required. Next week, I will profile our two volunteer teachers. I have met both of them via Skype and they are some very special folks.

There are still some “good news” surprises being worked on. Keep your thoughts and prayers flowing.

In closing, often I return to old Posts to read about what we were doing a year ago or two years ago. Even though I wrote the Posts, I am often surprised to read about things I had forgotten. I am also surprised to see how far we have travelled and how much we have accomplished together. I recommend you taking an extra minute to look back at a Post from the past. Look at one that was issued close to your birthday a year ago and see what was being reported. After today, you have 143 Posts to pick from…! This is a lot of writing. Thank you all for all you do!