Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us here at Starfish!

Without Starfish, finishing high school is only a dream for many of our students.  High costs and other necessities often create the sad reality that education just cannot be a priority.  But our students know that the way to break that cycle is to finish their studies.  This Thanksgiving, help us help them make their dreams come true.  Making a donation to our campaign is easy, just click here!

While we all celebrate with our families today, we suggest spreading that gratitude by donating the amount you would spend on a Thanksgiving pie.  Any amount makes a difference!

Our Scholars receive a lesson in First Aid

For our November monthly meeting, Starfish mom, Narcisa (mother of Scholarship recipient Marlon) shared with us some great knowledge on first aid.  We learned all about vital signs, how to act in an emergency situation, how to read a thermometer, how to check our pulses, various ways to give shots, etc.

Narcisa giving her presentation on first aid!

Our Scholars were eager to learn about ways they can help out when someone in their family is sick.  This is just one more way our scholars learn to lead and learn to give back.  Speaking of giving back - don't forget that as you shop this holiday season, don't forget to shop via amazon using the following link: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/45-3805106 - 0.5% of your purchase total will be donated to Starfish with no additional cost to you!!

Check out the pictures below to see the first aid lesson in action!

Steve checking his pulse!

Narcisa showing Maria and Jerson how to read a thermometer.

Marcos helping Narcisa demonstrate what to do if we find someone unconscious or otherwise in trouble.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Starfish!

This past Saturday, November 9th, Starfish celebrated it's 2nd birthday!  We are so thankful for all the support we've received over the past 2 years, and so excited for what is to come.  Check out our most recent newsletter for a look back on what we've accomplished over the past two years:
 http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=a57e17f39addec163f1de7ff8&id=b26d3f3bd0&e=1174b54840

And don't forget about our current campaign.  This year for #GivingTuesday our goal is to raise $2000 to kick-off our fundraising for the 2014 school year.  Giving Tuesday is a movement to create a national day of giving to kick off the giving season added to the calendar on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  Starfish is honored to participate for the second year in a row, and we hope to count on YOU for support!  Share this campaign with your friends today!

Our scholars thank you for all that you do!! 

A day in the life of Maria's week off from school!

Maria had a great time during school break a few weeks ago and today she shares with us a little bit about how she spent her time!

"During my vacation, I had a great time.  I went out almost every day until almost 10pm and the good part about that is that I was with people that I love - my cousins Andy and Luis and my family, and the best because God was always with me.  Also, Sunday we started practicing for my Quinceañera (15th birthday) and so far I like the choreography, I don't about the others.

And during vacation I was also on facebook because I could talk to my friends from school since it was 2 weeks that I hadn't seen them.  My best friends are:
Sofia - I did see her during my Quinceañera practica, I love her a lot
Kenia - I love her so much!
Melli, Betza, Moises, Joel, Anell, Nadia, Andy, Jean Carlos, Jonathan, Leonel, Joss Yaritza, Antony, Andy Mauricio, Steven, Leo, Joselin, Genesis, Wellington, Alana, Boris, Efren, Erick.

They are my best friends.  With them I have done a lot of crazy fun things, we've done a lot of cool things.  We've been through the good and the bad but the most important thing is that they've never failed me, I don't know why, maybe because they love me like I love them.
I also had a great time at Starfish because we were learning with the volunteers and Jenny."

Maria working on an art project at Starfish during vacation!

"Yo en mis vacaciones bueno yo la pase super, salía casi todos los días como hasta las 10:00 o más de la noche y lo bueno es porque estaba con personas quiero, mis primos Andy y Luis y mi familia y lo mejor porque siempre estaba conmigo Dios.  Y también el Domingo tuvimos que estar ensayando para lo de mi quinceañera y bueno a mí hasta ahora si me gusta los paso no se a los demás.

Y en mis vacaciones yo también he estado en el facebook ya que en el puedo conversar con mis amigos ya que tenía dos semanas que no los había visto entre ellos los mas importantes:
Sofia - pues a ella la vi en los ensayos, y la quiero mucho
Kenia: A ella yo la amo mucho, la quiero mucho
Melli, Betza, Moises, Joel, Anell, Nadia, Andy, Jean Carlos, Jonathan, Leonel, Joss, Yaritza, Antony, Andy Mauricio, Steven, Leo, Joselin, Genesis, Wellington, Alana, Boris, Efren, Erick.

Son unos de mis mejores amigos/amigas.  Ya que con ellos yo he pasado muchas locuras junto a ellos he hecho muchas cosas cheveres.  He pasado cosas buenas y malas con ellos pero lo importante es que ellos nunca me han fallado porque no se que será me quieren más o como yo los quiero por eso puede ser.  Y también pasé super ya que nos queda más con los voluntarios y Jenny aprendiendo."

Maria and Starfish friends at the pool!

Learning to Lead at our October Meeting

This month at our October monthly meeting we focused on leadership.  We learned about teamwork, communication, setting goals and working towards those goals in a group setting by completing various activities and reflecting on our experiences.  It was a blast!  See all of these fun activities and more, below!

Setting up for our first icebreaker in Guasmo!

"Dinámica" or IceBreaker where we we had to work together creatively to get everyone's feet
 on a sheet of paper when the music stopped...each time with less sheets of paper!

It was easy when there were a lot of papers on the ground still,
here our students try to figure out what to do now with less paper.

Group work solving some riddles.  Our students had quite the creative responses!

Lili presenting to the parents what we did during our meeting.

After the becado (scholarship student) meeting, we also had a parent meeting and the parents did some icebreakers as well.  It was great to see the parents uniting and forming new friendships as well.  This year has been a great year of growth for Starfish and we're excited for the possibilities when students and parents alike unite for the success of their families and Starfish!  While the parents met, our students prepared a delicious, healthy snack and then served it to their parents for an great end to a fantastic day.

Starfish moms Maria and Adelaida participating in our parent activity.

Preparing snack with new Starfish Employee, Karina (pink shirt).

Geovanny helping out with snack in Guasmo.

Flor de Bastión students united after preparing a wonderful snack for the Starfish group!

The perfect end to a perfect day - lots of smiles!

Vacation Week at Starfish

As you may remember, this school year started in May instead of April and will continue through February.  Along with the shift in start/end date, the government decided to shift to a standardized 2-semester "quimestre" system instead of the trimester system formerly used in most schools.

One exciting side affect of this standardization of the schedule - All schools take exams during the same week, and consequently have vacation at the same time as well.  This gave Starfish the opportunity to have our first ever week of Vacation activities.  While schools gave the students 2 full weeks of vacation, we held special Starfish sessions for the first week with extended hours, giving the second week free for students to travel with their families.

Below, Argenis, Anthony and Arelisa from Flor de Bastión tell us about their week of vacation with Starfish.

Italian class with Sylvie!

"Our vacation was very fun because Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we were at Starfish.  The first day was Tuesday, it was great.  We made cards to respond to the ones our Pen Pal wrote.  We worked with Sylvie - She was teaching us Italian.  We also had another group of games where the kids had a lot of fun.  To finish this day, we had a snack (broccoli, carrots and other veggies).  Almost nobody liked it but we had to eat anyway :)

Pen Pal letters!

Anthony and friends playing our new Connect 4 Launchers game :)

The second day some students did crafts - some beautiful butterflies, and another group did jewelry - bracelets, pens with their names on it.  This day the snack was better - banana milkshake with strawberry and popcorn.  We finished that snack haha.

Prepping Wednesday's snack in Guasmo - thanks Steve and Isaac for the help!

Sylvie learned how to make bracelets on Wednesday in Guasmo - and taught David on Thursday in Flor!

The third day we began with an important meeting about the use of Social Media and about the consequences.  Later we played a fun game led by Starfish Employee Tyrone Tumbaco.  It was really fun.  And this day ended with a delicious snack - yogurt with granola, bananas and crackers.  It was fun, but not too much because it was Sylvie's last day :( "

Maricruz presenting on Social Media

Tyrone's hot seat game that was a huge hit with the kids!

"Nuestras vacaciones fueron muy divertidos por que los dias martes, miercoles y jueves la pasamos Estrellitas.  El primer día que fue el Martes.  Fue muy bonito.  Hicimos cartas para responderles a nuestros amigos de correspondencia.  Trabajamos con Sylvie - Ella nos estaba enseñando "Italiano".  Tambien había una sección de juegos en la cuál los chicos disfrutaron mucho.  Al finalizar este dia nos esperó un ansioso refrigerio (brocoli, zanahoria y muchos legumbres más).  Casí nadie queria pero de igual manera tenían que comer. :)

El segundo día algunos chicos hicieron manualidades, unas lindas mariposas, en otro grupo hicieron bisutería (plumas con nombre).  Bueno este día el refrigerio fue mucho más bueno, batido de guineo con frutilla y canguil.  Así finalizamos jaja.

Pamela teaching Milena and others how to make pens with your name in string!

El tercer día empezamos con una reunión importante sobre el uso de las paginas electrónicas (como Facebook, Twitter, etc.) y sobre las cosas malas y las consecuencias.  Luego hicimos un juego muy divertido dirigido por el ayudante Tyrone Tumbaco.  Fue muy divertido.  Bueno y este día lo finalizamos con un rico (!!!) refrigerio - yogur con granola, guineo y galletas.  Fue muy divertido.  Pero no mucho porque Sylvie se fue :( "

Escrito por: Argenis, Anthony y Arelisa

Snack on the last day :)

Las Olimpiadas - Starfish Olympics, by Genesis

The winning team with their medals!

A few months ago, one of our Starfish scholars, Genesis, approached me with the idea of doing "Starfish Olympics".  You see, here in Ecuador all schools hold Olympics each year where students participate in many field day-like activities, almost always ending in a soccer tournament between all the classes.  Genesis thought it might be a good idea to have Starfish Olympics as one of our Integration activities between our 2 neighborhoods, Guasmo and Flor de Bastión.  And she sure was right, the first ever Starfish Olympics was blast!  Here's Genesis' version below:

Genesis and the rest of the yellow team!

"Olimpiadas was great because there was integration and fellowship amongst the kids from Guasmo and Flor de Bastión.  For me, the best was that we got to play and that the teams were made up of students from each sector of the Foundation.  The best was that there were boys and girls that I know on my team.  That was good.  Also I got stepped on while playing and then I couldn't play anymore.  Even though my team lost, it was awesome and fun.  It was great to spend the day with everyone from The Starfish Foundation.  I hope to see all my friends from Flor de Bastión soon.  I liked watching my friends play, and screaming for them to win!"

Sack Race!

Cheering on the rest of the teams!

Wheelbarrow race!

Break from the races to play some games :)

And let the soccer begin!

The Championship game (that ended in a Penalty shoot-out, so much suspense!)

Bueno, las Olimpiadas fue excelente porque hubo integración y compañerismo entre los chicos del Guasmo y los de la Flor de Bastión.  Para mí lo mejor fue que jugamos y que los equipos estaban compuestos de ambos grupos de integrantes de la fundación.  Lo mejor fue que me equipo tocaron chicos y chicas que conozco.  Eso es lo bueno.  Pues también porque al jugar me pisaron pero bueno no jugué más.  Aunque mi equipo perdió fue vacan y divertido.  Fue vacan al pasar un día con todos los chicos de la Funación Estrellitas del Mar.  Espero ver de nuevo a mis amigos de la Flor de Bastión.  Me gustó ver jugar a mis compañeros y gritar para que ganen!

Oh and...check out our new snazzy sign!