A Reflection on Senior Year...by Starfish senior Joel

Today, senior Starfish student Joel shares with us a reflection on his last year in high school, and his motivation for the future.  Joel has been with us since the first days of Starfish and we are so proud of all that he has accomplished so far!!

"Hi, I'm Joel.  I'm in my last year of high school.  To be in the last year of high school....it's gratifying to know that you are about to graduate and meet one of your goals which is to finish high school.  Of course, the last year is not easy because your life is slowly taking an important turn towards responsibility.  One begins to become more independent, but it's always necessary to listen to others' advice for something that you don't understand.  It may be related to your studies, which are important.  Someday, thanks to your academic efforts, you can achieve diplomas or scholarships like what I had, and with these accomplishments, people will respect you as a person.  If everything goes well, in the future they will also respect you as a professional."


Also important to note, Joel has done an excellent job preparing for his graduation, participating in the equivalent of SAT-prep classes and earning an admirable score on the exam.  As such he is currently exploring 2 options, the public university to which he will automatically gain admittance with his outstanding test score, and a private university scholarship through another local organization which awards scholarships specifically based on merit.  Let's wish him the best of luck as he continues in the scholarship process!!  ¡Buena suerte Joel!

Spanish language - Joel's original post:

Hola, soy Joel.  Estoy en 3ro de bachillerato.  Estar en el último de colegio...es muy grato saber que estás a punto de graduarte y cumplir con una de tus metas que es finalizar el colegio.  Claro que el último año no es fácil porque tu vida poco a poco va tomando un giro importante que es el de la responsabilidad.  Uno se comienza a independizar, pero siempre hay que escuchar a los demás, sus consejos, en algo que no entiendes.  Puede ser referente a tus estudios, que son importante.  Algún día gracias a tu esfuerzo académico puedes obtener logros como diplomas o becas como los obtuve yo, y al obtener todos estos logros, las demás personas te van a respetar como persona.  Si todo va bien ya puede que más adelante de te respeten como un profesional.

First Ever Advisory Board Retreat

This past weekend, after our U.S. Advisory Board had the chance to meet in person for it's first-ever weekend Retreat.  During the weekend we worked on long-term objectives for Starfish.  

Don, Kathy, Ashley, Taylor, Beth, Melissa, Dave, Dr. Klingler, Jeff

Our Advisory Board serves to advise on all things Starfish and is comprised of people with a wide variety of expertise.  We are so blessed to have these people guide us as Starfish continues to grow exponentially.  Some of their exciting accomplishments include: Former CEO, Former Teacher, University Business Professor, Accountant, Teacher, Law Student, Former Starfish Volunteers, Former year-long volunteer in Paraguay, Former Fulbright in Honduras, and much more!

Beth, with mentor and Advisory Board member Dr. Klingler from Villanova University.

Stay tuned in the coming months to hear news about our 1-year and 5-year plans.  Get ready for big things!

Jenn got to join the fun from Ecuador via Google Hangout!

Carnaval 2014

This past weekend was a holiday here in Ecuador - Carnaval!  In our Sponsor a Scholar pen pal program, lots of our students wrote about this as their favorite holiday in their last card.  Carnaval is celebrated the last 2 days before Lent starts.  Here in Ecuador it's celebrated Saturday - Tuesday. This year at Starfish we started even earlier on Friday to give departing volunteers, Twan & Rianne, a little taste of what it's like to "play Carnaval".  Friday was full of clean fun, just using water.  However, many Carnaval traditions include playing with paint, mud and whatever else you have around!

Enjoy the pictures!

Preparing for action!

Briggitte and Juliana!

These girls tricked me into giving them the camera so they could dump a huge bucket of water on me without damaging the camera.   It was hot, so it was appreciated :)

Milena, Yuliana, Lili, Pamela & Jaren

Lili was one of the leaders of the action :)

And finallly, someone got Cristhian!

¡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!