Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christmas. Show all posts

Thursday, January 7, 2016

Student blog post- Melanie's Community Service Project

The blog post for today comes from Melanie Paz, one of our high school seniors who recently completed a community service project at Starfish. Melanie is an ambitious, dedicated student with a bright future, and we are so proud of her and all she has accomplished!

Melanie's reflection:
For my community service project, I organized a Christmas party for the little brothers, sisters, and other young family members of the Starfish scholarship students in Guasmo.

First, I had to figure out how to finance my project. After thinking about it, I realized that often times, when people have outgrown their clothes, they either throw them away, sell them, or regift them. Therefore, I decided to ask for used clothes from neighbors and others close to me, so that I could sell the clothes and use the money to fund the party. Thankfully, people generously donated their old clothes, and I was able to put on a party for the kids to enjoy. Everyone had a great time, and it was a memorable day for all of us :)

With God's help, and with the assistance of those who helped me by donating their old clothes, everything went well, and the children had a great time! Watching the kids enjoy themselves brought me a lot of joy, and their parents and families came and thanked me, as did Jenn and a few others, and this made me feel proud to have completed my project.

Therefore, with a little effort, through my project, I demonstrated to the directors and members of Starfish that I remain thankful for all of the help that they have offered me throughout the years. Their support enables me to continue growing socially, academically, and spiritually.

Without a doubt, it was a beautiful and unforgettable experience, from which I learned a lot.

~Melanie Paz~


en español:
Realice un fiesta de navidad para los hermanos y sobrinos de los becados y no becados menores de 10 años de la fundación Estrellita del Mar, sede Guasmo.

Para poder financiar mi proyecto, me di cuenta que las personas de hoy en día no utilizan la ropa muy a menudo, la botan, la venden o la regalan, entonces opté por probar con esa idea y pedí ropa usada a personas muy cercanas a mi para así venderlas y sacar fondos para poder realizar la fiesta. Hice que los niños se sientan felices en estas fechas tan significantes para ellos.

Gracias a Dios, y a las personas que me ayudaron salio todo bien, los niños se divirtieron muchísimo, fui tan feliz al ver que ellos disfrutaban tanto de la fiesta. Recibí tantas felicitaciones de los padres de familia, Jenn y demás personas, que me sentí tan orgullosa de haber logrado mi proyecto.

Por lo tanto, Con ese granito de arena, muestro a las directoras y miembros de la fundación que quedo muy agradecida por todo el apoyo que me han brindado para así seguir creciendo en mi vida social, escolar y espiritual.

Sin duda alguna, fue una experiencia muy hermosa e inolvidable. De la cual aprendí mucho.

~Melanie Paz~

Thursday, December 24, 2015

Feliz Navidad!

To offer a glimpse into our communities in Flor and Guasmo, here is what we've been up to recently!

A few months ago, we introduced a workshop for our educadores, the purpose of which was to cultivate technology and communication skills, thus enhancing our educadores' confidence and abilities in the professional world. We've been continuing these professional development workshops, which have so far been a great success! Furthermore, as we mentioned previously, our new psychologist, Karen, has been creating more workshops, which strive to further inform, educate, and empower our students.

In terms of more exciting news, we recently took the students on a field trip to a water park as a Christmas present! Our bingo event held this past November provided us with these funds, and we and the students are grateful for this opportunity to receive such a gift.

The Advent season, a period of four weeks in preparation for Christmas, is a time of hope, faith, joy, and peace, each theme represented by one candle on the advent wreath. These virtues are visibly present in our students, who continuously demonstrate these beautiful virtues.

Christmas, especially, is a time in which "We must give cheerfully and accept gratefully" (Maya Angelou). Our students bring us hope, faith, joy, and peace, and they teach us how to give and receive with open and happy hearts. We are grateful for our students, our educadores, and all of the support we receive in the forms of donations and volunteers.


Below are some photos from our Fiesta de Navidad where both of our Starfish communities from Flor & Guasmo came together to have fun & celebrate.  Also a big thanks to Colegio "Domingo Savio" and "Big Cola" for providing donations to make this event even better!! i






It looks like Santa joined us for our fiesta!



In addition to our games and gifts, our Christmas festivities included face painting!























Thursday, December 25, 2014

¡Feliz Navidad!

From all of us at Starfish, we want to wish you a very 
Merry Christmas!






Thursday, December 18, 2014

It's Christmas Time in the City...of Guayaquil!

The holiday season is in full swing here in Ecuador.  The city center is decorated and Christmas music is playing at all of the malls.  Concerts, parades and other presentations to celebrate the holidays take place on a daily basis.



At Starfish, our celebrations have started as well.  Our classrooms are decorated and Christmas traditions have commenced.  Last Sunday in Guasmo and this coming Saturday in Flor mark the dates for our now annual Christmas party for the younger siblings of Starfish.  Christmas is a season of giving, and as part of our Scholars' commitment to their scholarship, they plan and host a party each year for their younger siblings as a community service project.  There is music, dancing, presentations, snacks, face painting and more.  This year the Guasmo crew even chipped in to buy a piñata!  The Scholars' siblings all leave with a special toy and gift bag of candy as a treat to celebrate Christmas!



Starfish Scholars and tutoring students will also celebrate Christmas this coming week with music, dancing, Secret Santa, and a raffle for some donated clothes.  Follow us on facebook & twitter for more Christmas updates from our students during the 12 days of Christmas!


Thursday, January 9, 2014

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:




Thursday, December 26, 2013

¡Feliz Navidad!



This past weekend we celebrated Christmas as a Starfish family.  As a way to give back this holiday season, our scholars hosted a party for their younger brothers and sisters so they could enjoy some Christmas cheer.


 





 

Money is tight for a lot of Starfish families, and this is especially tough around the holidays.  To help out, our scholars helped raise some money to buy toys for their siblings.  They also prepared a dance, face painting, contests and much more so that everyone could have a great time.





 


Best of all, our students lived out the true spirit of Christmas - giving of themselves so that their siblings could enjoy a day of Christmas fun!



On Monday & Tuesday the students got to enjoy their own mini Christmas celebration with all of the new friends they made this year at Starfish.  It was a time of reflection, dancing, games and fun for all.



One of the icebreakers: look in this box and tell us what you see
- Hint: it's the best gift God has given us (you!)

¡Feliz Navidad! Merry Christmas!

Thursday, December 19, 2013

More Tutoring = Better Grades and More Fun!

For the month of December we decided to experiment with adding an extra day of "Refuerzo" or Tutoring in each neighborhood in response to parent suggestions during our latest round of evaluations.  So far, it's been a huge success!!

Karolayn
An extra day of tutoring means more time to dedicate the school subjects that our Scholars find difficult.  Our "Ayudantes" or employees have been busy helping students review some tough material so that the next time they have exams they're all set to get even better grades!

Employee Tyrone presenting to the morning group in Flor
This has also allowed us more time for the group presentations on topics important to teens that we told you about in last week's blog.

Lili & Milena
Dayanna presenting on Effects of Drug Use
Since it's December we've also used the time to bring some Christmas joy to our classroom space too - everything pictured below is hand-made by our Starfish Scholars!!

Happy Holidays a little early from all of us at Starfish!