Metas para el Año Nuevo= New Years' Resolutions!

Our students share their resolutions for the 2016! We are so proud of them, especially as they continue to set, and achieve, their goals.

Jerico Acuña: 

"My goal for this year is to finish with good grades."
Mi meta para este año es pasar con muy buenas notas.

Arelisa Rodriguez: 

"I think that for this year, my goals are: to do well in school, and to conquer problems that life presents me." 

Creo que mis metas de este año es transcurrir mi año escolar y superar los problemas que se dan en la vida.

Briggitte Bravo:

"My goal is to be in good health, and to be able to apply myself in my studies."

Estar con salud y poder aplicarme en mis estudios.

Joselin Cevallos: 

"My goal for this year is to be able to finish the school year with excellent grades and to be able to continue sharing my time with people whom I love most." 

Mi meta para este año es poder terminar con excelentes notas el año lectivo y poder seguir compartiendo con las personas que mas quiero.




Milena Mora: 

"My goal for this year is to be able to continue with my studies, and this way, also be able to continue being a scholarship student at the Foundation."

Mi meta para este año es poder continuar con mis estudios y así tmb poder seguir siendo becada en la Fundación.

Ariana Sosoranga: 

"My goal for this year is to get good grades and to be able to continue being a Starfish scholarship student."

Mi meta para este año es tener buenas notas y poder seguir siendo una de las becadas de starfish.

Maria Loor:

"My goal for this year is to finish with good grades and to be a top high school graduate, and to spend the year with people who I care about the most."  

Mi meta para este año es pasar con buenas notas y ser una buena bachiller y terminar el año con las personas que mas quiero.

Diego Barrezueta:

"My goal for this year is to be able to finish high school, and attend university." 

Mi meta para este año es poder terminar el colegio y seguir la universidad.

Jean Carlos:

"My goal for this year is to get good grades in my exams, and to be able to graduate and to start university off on the right foot." 

Mi meta para este año es que es sacar buenas notas en mis examenes de grado y asi poder graduarme y comenzar con pie derecho la universidad.

Happy New Year!

We wish you a very happy & blessed New Year!

Genesis & Betsabeth's Vacation

For the first time, Ecuadorian schools were required to give vacation between Christmas and New Year's, allowing students more time with their families for these important holiday!  Here, Betsabeth and Genesis share a little bit about their break from their studies...

Genesis & Bestabeth in 2012, their first year with Starfish!

"For Christmas Eve we got to spend time together.  It was a great thing because even though we didn't know each other before Starfish, we get along really well.  We did a lot of things like: We took pictures (but later they were erased), we ate dinner at Betsabeth's house, we hung out for a bit until after a lot of fooling around we decided to go for a walk.  We were with my cousin and we got to know her better.  We ate ice cream.  And the best part is that was had a really great time!"

Genesis helping with face painting at our Starfish Christmas party!

Betsabeth helping with face painting at our Starfish Christmas party!

"La noche del 24 de diciembre como ningún año pasamos juntas.  Fue algo estupendo porque a pesar de que no nos conocemos mucho, nos llevamos super que bien.  Hicimos muchas cosas como: Nos tomamos fotos, pero después se borraron, cenamos en la casa de Betsabeth, molestamos un rato hasta que después de mucha molestar decidimos ir a caminar un rato.  Estabamos con mi prima y nos conocimos más con mi prima.  Comimos helado.  Bueno, lo mejor es que la pasamos super que bien."

Here is the beautifully decorated blog entry they handed into me:

¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

In Ecuador, it is tradition to celebrate the New Year by burning an "Año Viejo" to get rid of all the bad from last year and move into the new year with positivity.  An año viejo can take many forms - often times it is a representation of something (good or bad) that was important in the last year.  In Guasmo, our students made Spongebob Squarepants.

In Flor, they made a star to represent Starfish.

In addition, we had an año viejo representation Kung Fu Panda and Sully from Monsters, Inc. made by some of the families...

...and Cristhian "Chucho" Benitez made by the "professionals" in the center of the city.  Chucho, a professional soccer player for the Ecuadorian national team passed away this past summer unexpectedly.  He was a fan favorite and missed by all.  Here are students pay tribute to him with these awesome pictures!

May your year also be filled with positivity, and many blessings.

Happy New Year!