Happy 2025, everyone! Christa spent the new year in Nicaragua, visiting our students there. What a wonderful time with all our students; they are all so excited about their studies and the upcoming school year. We’ll have updates to all their pages coming along but this post will hit some of the highlights.

Lovely Raquel

Raquel will be entering her last year of secondary school; She tells us she wants to study veterinary science and work with animals, which we hope to be able to help her with. We’ll be working with her over the coming year to make sure she has all her plans in order and can work on getting a scholarship for most of her costs from the university in Leon. We think she’ll be a great veterinarian!

Emili with her older sister Angie, flag bearers for the parade!

Emili will be entering her third year of secondary school and is happy to be back in school soon. She wants to study accounting at the university, which is great because she loves math! She did so well in school that she was a flag bearer in the annual independence day parade.

Krisbell will be entering her fifth year of primary school and is hoping to be able to study at the private Catholic secondary school in town after she graduates from 6th grade in 2026.

Our older students are still studying in the university or post-secondary vocational school. Tatiana has finished two years at the local vocational school in town. Her first year was studying office and computer work, her second year (and her final two) will be studying accounting. She will graduate in 2026, and says that her school will help her find a job, which could be anything from working in a store or a bank, to teaching basic math at the primary or secondary schools. We can’t wait to see what she ends of doing!

Belen finished her third year of English studies at the university. She spent this past year observing English classes at the high school, and this coming year she’ll be teaching her own classes as part of her university education. She says they’ve been studying ways to help the students be more involved in their lessons, rather than just listening and reciting.

Almost done with biomedical analysis studies!

Elizabeth is so very excited about her chosen course of study. She simply glows with enthusiasm. She spent this last year doing her “practica” (internship) at the local hospital and just loved the work. She especially is interested in parasitology. Beginning in April of 2025, Elizabeth will be starting her last year, which is known as her “social.” Essentially, they send her somewhere so she can do public service for a year and become better at her craft. She’ll be done for real in April of 2026 (but we’re going to celebrate in December of this year!).

Although we weren’t able to meet with Seyla, she has written us that she wants to study pharmacology at the private university in Leon, which would allow her to study only on Saturdays (the national university only offers daily studies). So we are waiting for her post-secondary application, and we’ll keep you posted.

Michel and her daughter Génesis

Finally, Michel has been substitute teaching at a local primary school and waiting to be placed in a permanent position. She is working hard to become a full-time teacher, which is even more important to her now because she has a baby girl! Génesis Gabriela is 8 months old and Michel loves her madly and wants to provide a good example of being a working mother. We’re really proud of her continuing to fight for her dreams, and we have no doubt she’ll find a full-time job and be a wonderful teacher.

All of our students had really great grades this past year, and we just couldn’t be prouder. This coming December will be a big visit: a big party for Raquel and a celebration with Elizabeth. Plus all the other visits and excitement that come along with a visit to El Sauce.

The year ended on a high note, with the most donations we’ve ever received! We’ve posted the 2024 Annual Report. Please check it out and let us know if you have any questions. Thank you so much for your support of our mission. It is gratifying to know that we have this support, but even more gratifying when we get to visit with our students and see what they are accomplishing, and the dreams they have for themselves and their families.

Happy New Year to all,

Birgit, Christa, Janeece, Leslie, and Meghan