Happy 1-year anniversary!
On April 1, 2016, we officially launched the Thousand Girls Initiative, a massive expansion of our Scholarship & Youth Development Program that will help 1,000 young Guatemalan women avoid an all too common fate: dropping out of school after the 6th grade. Instead, these young women will join the Scholarship Program, be matched with sponsors like you, and step confidently on the path toward graduation and a brighter future.
What do you say we check our progress?
When we started last year, the Scholarship Program was serving 3 communities, and 288 students were either in the program or poised to join it. Now?
© Rebecca Wilks, Skyline Images
That is a CRAZY, inspiring amount of growth! But in the end it’s not about the numbers: it’s about the students. So we wanted to share a recent success story with you as well.
“From all my heart—thank you.”
Milvia Itzol started the program in 2011, a bright young girl with big dreams, who wouldn’t have had a chance to chase them if not for you.
Milvia during her second year in the program.
This year, Milvia graduated from the program with a technical degree in architecture, ready to continue on to university and become a full-fledged architect:
Milvia at her graduation ceremony.
Milvia and her sponsor with an architectural drawing from her senior project.
Milvia spoke at the inauguration of our new Education Center in Guatemala this February, and this is what she had to say:
“In addition to supporting our education, the Scholarship Program helped us develop skills that have been a great asset. I learned how to think positively and how to speak in public, which used to be very difficult for me. My dream has always been to be an architect, but without the help of CoEd it would not have been possible, because my parents are out of work. Thanks to the donations of each sponsor, many of us are achieving things that we thought were impossible. From all my heart—thank you.”
Milvia releases a balloon at the inauguration of our new Education Center.