My dream, Scholars' dreams, and refugees' dreams

So, if you're connected with world news at all in the past week, it's been a tumultuous week to say the least. Paris, Beirut, Baghdad, and Japan all made world headlines within a few days' time. But, sadly, another recent news headline started a long time ago (and has progressed): Syria's refugee crisis.

I'm not writing this blog to take a political stance -- but I'm actually reframing this situation for you with a different perspective. For our Scholars, they are blessed to not currently be living in a war-torn country. Their country has not been attacked by terrorists. They are not traveling thousands of miles to a potential new home - hoping that someone will care for them along the dangerous journey.

The sad reality is, though, our Scholars do face very real challenges. They face extreme poverty, lack of food, lack of clean water, violence in their community, gang and drug pressure, and more. The difference I am grateful for is the opportunity for our Scholars to receive an education.

Here is our "Goals" or "Dreams" wall. Each Scholar put his/her dream on the wall, next to a photo of him/her in school uniform. We believe this motivates them to keep focused on their dreams!

We also like to celebrate students' academic achievements and efforts. Here, Maria Belen congratulates Luiggi, one of our Scholars that we recognized last month!

Pamela, one of our work-study volunteers (who will be starting as an educator for us soon!) dreams of becoming a flight attendant. At her Starfish graduation celebration earlier this year, the Starfish educators and Scholars made her a card that reads, "Congratulations, future Flight Attendant!"

So far, Starfish has had 8 graduates (2 in 2014 and 6 in 2015, four of whom are pictured here). 6 more students are expected to graduate this coming year, in March!

I write all of this to share with you how grateful I am that our Scholars and tutor-only (mentee) students live in a country where there is peace. The challenges for many of these families are large, but the opportunity that these students receive is incredible, and I'm proud we can welcome them to receive their education. 

Throughout my time in Baltimore, I've also met many refugees - people whom the U.S. has welcomed into a land of peace, opportunity and education. I am grateful for these refugees, for all they have taught and brought us, and for the kind compassion they have been shown in times of hardship. 

Most importantly, I pray for the people who are not experiencing peace right now, that they find peace and compassion soon in their journey. 

So, tell me - what are your dreams? Share them here, or email me at beth@thestarfishchange.org. I'd love to hear your dreams!

The Top 5 Reasons We Started Starfish

Happy fourth birthday, Starfish! I'm so excited to celebrate this day - I remember when Jenn and I began, I had the thought, "It might last one year, and that's great! Or, it could last 5, and that's awesome. Or maybe even 10 or 20!" Look - just one year out from my next 'mile-marker' -- we've come so far!

I thought it might be fun to share with you a little bit about why Jenn and I decided to start Starfish.

1. We knew we had to give back to those we love, who had given us so much. We had just returned from a powerful year serving in Guayaquil, Ecuador with Rostro de Cristo. We had met these incredible families that had opened their homes to us through offering us food, love, hugs, a listening ear, and so much more. Even if we weren't in this neighborhood specifically (which Starfish isn't), we wanted to support that beautiful culture of hospitality, faith and service.

Some of the children from some of my favorite families, in a neighborhood behind the one where I lived, called Elsa. 

2. Carpe diem. We had to sieze the day! What a better time to do something really crazy then when you just finished doing something else really crazy?! In all seriousness, Jenn and I both knew it was a little nuts -- we were told we shouldn't make any big life decisions during such a powerful transition, but ya know... sometimes your heart just speaks louder than your head. Neither of us had many serious commitments at the time, so it seemed like a reasonable time to take a leap of faith.

3. To put our faith into action. Jenn and I are both dedicated to our faith. We are both Catholic, but we're on the same page that faith is faith -- and it means doing good works when you are able to serve those most in need. We both love the Jesuit traditions (Jenn having gone to Fairfield - me now studying at Loyola, plus spending time at a Jesuit parish in Baltimore). The notions of serving those most in need rings loudly in our hearts, and it's something we take seriously.

4. "She who sees is responsible." Taken from the motto of Notre Dame Preparatory School, we knew we had to do something about what we had witnessed. We had seen (and still see) so many families struggle to make ends meet with food and shelter alone, that education seemed to be a daunting task for our loved ones. We had seen the challenges with finding income, maintaining health, and working for justice - and we knew we couldn't sit still.

5. Because of Hugh, and Dr. Albert Schweitzer, and Villanova. Hugh O'Brian started the famous HOBY Leadership organization, one that I'm quite involved in. Dr. Albert Schweitzer inspired Hugh to start HOBY after a trip to Africa, where Schweitzer asked, "Hugh, what are you going to do about it?"

My family and I with Hugh O'Brian himself!

Around the same time we returned from our year in Ecuador, Villanova (my alma mater) had just started their Ignite Change, Go Nova campaign. The entire campaign focuses on supporting Villanova community members to do things just like this. What perfect timing! I remember visiting campus for the first time after I returned back to the U.S., telling professors and friends that I wanted to start a nonprofit. No one even doubted it -- the common answer was, "Great! Tell me more."

So, Jenn and I decided to ignite some change... and look where we are today. :)

The banner that really inspired my passion to go forth with this project.

We hope you enjoy celebrating this 200th blog post and this 4th birthday with us today -- and here's to many more!

Con cariño,
Beth

This week in global education

Exciting news this week, Starfish followers. On Monday, the World Bank announced that it will be allocating $5 billion dollars to improve the quality of global education.

They released this in advance of the World Education Forum, which is meeting in South Korea this week to determine benchmarks for sustainable development goals, including: right to education, equity in education, inclusive education, quality education, and lifelong learning. Among criticism for current efforts is that while enrollment has increased worldwide, the content of said education has not been improved. Recently, UNESCO released a report detailing key areas for improvement, including early childhood care and education, as well as child and adult literacy.

World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, hopes results-based financing will make a difference in fostering better outcomes for students worldwide. However, global education advocates recommend a broad range of approaches in order to ensure best results and work well with local governments.

Regardless, the need for improvement in the quality of education is clear. One in four children  are illiterate--some 250 million children cannot read or right. Among solutions are: lower teacher-student ratios, better access to materials, and literacy-focused education.

Read here for more information on the UNESCO report and the potential impact of the World Bank's contributions.

And to contribute to the quality of education for our students in Ecuador, consider sponsoring a scholar today.

Global Education: STEM Education in the Developing World

Today's post comes from Jessica Baker of Engineering World Health.
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“We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology.” - Carl Sagan 

 In the United States, we hear constantly that we should be scientists and engineers. We should study Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields because we will find good jobs, invent new things, and help the United States progress into the future. We know that STEM education is essential to understanding the world we live in.

So why would we expect STEM education to be any less important in developing countries?

 As this article in SciDev.net argues, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education is critical to global development. Workers in STEM fields can build modern infrastructure, advance energy production, and innovate to overcome developing countries’ unique challenges.

Putting back patient monitor with an intern.

And, as this Huffington Post article points out, this is just as true for girls as for boys: “Keeping [girls] out of the educational loop -- for social, cultural, or economic reasons - - means that half the population can't contribute to their community's economic growth.” When a country provides access to quality education to all children, they unlock the potential of their entire population.

STEM education opens up a great variety of career options for young students regardless of where they live. For example, Engineering World Health trains biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs) in the developing world. BMETs maintain and repair medical equipment in hospitals, making sure patients have access to quality health care. Our BMET students are adults, but to succeed they need a basic understanding of math and science in order to learn the special skills required to repair complex machines. When a hospital has well-educated technicians, they have more incubators to support newborn babies, more working anesthetic machines to perform surgeries, and more autoclaves to keep tools properly sterilized.

Student Oung Kakeo verifying waveform.

STEM education is necessary for all hospital careers: without it, BMETs, lab technicians, radiologists, nurses, and doctors could not exist. This is only one industry - imagine the impact across an entire society and economy if access to STEM education is severely limited or non-existent. How could such a society develop into an independent, self-sustaining modern nation?

Countries that invest in their children’s STEM education will have adults who understand the science and technology we depend on. They will use that understanding to improve themselves and their communities, develop new solutions to old problems, and empower change in the next generation.

Dr. Ram Ramabhadran teaches Spec calibration in Honduras.

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Jessica Baker is the Development & Communications manager for Engineering World Health, a non-profit organization which inspires, educates, and empowers the biomedical engineering community to improve health care delivery in the developing world through STEM Education, Service Abroad, and Technician Training programs.

Global Education: A Brief Look

Greetings, Starfish readers! We are launching a new blog series on global education. Also keep an eye out for posts from our volunteers and tutors, Starfish event highlights, and more every Thursday! We look forward to your comments.

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Many people, myself included, were excited to hear President Obama speak about the possibility of free and universal community college in his State of the Union speech this week. This new initiative raises hope. Not only for those who would directly benefit from it, but for also everyone who recognizes education as a powerful, positive force.

Investing in education is, of course, an investment in the future. At Starfish, we know education has the power to change lives; it gives young people more opportunities and the ability to build up their communities. And it is encouraging to think that the President's newly introduced policy may be part of a trend towards a greater global focus on education.

To nurture this trend, however, there is still much to be done. A recent report released by UNICEF and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics indicated that 58 million children and 63 million adolescents worldwide were out of school. In other words: 1 of 11 children are not in the classroom; 1 in 5 adolescents are not.

The global community intended 2015 to be a benchmark year for universal primary education and yet progress has been slow. Barriers to education include: poverty, child labor, gender discrimination, national and regional conflicts, geographic location, language challenges, malnutrition, natural disasters, teacher shortages, and disability.

A disproportionate number of girls, children with disabilities, and children living in rural areas leave school early or miss out on their educations entirely. UNESCO reports that the solution isn't a matter of simply building more schools, but maintaining education in times of upheaval, combatting the above deterrents, and further determining why students aren't in the classroom.

The situation isn't hopeless, but rather complex. Still, change is possible. Last year, for example, in Ecuador, public school enrollment increased by 16%. The national literacy rate increased to 93%. The state spent a net $1.3 billion on education and made a plan to raise their secondary education graduation rate to 80% in the next several years. It will take hard work to put that plan into action, as it will take hard work to get students worldwide into their classrooms, but it's worth it.