Scholars For Schools

Short Term Vision

Scholars for Schools has chosen Ben Gurion elementary school, which serves 275 kindergarten to eighth grade students in Valparaiso, to be its first recipient of a library and multimedia room. The majority of the school’s children are classified as being at “social-risk” due to their low socioeconomic status.

Over 85 percent of Ben Gurion’s students are on a government-funded food program which allows the school to provide them with two meals a day and acts as an incentive for the students to attend class. The school lacks many text books and literacy resources which leads to the students reading a fraction of the required texts.

With the enthusiastic cooperation of Ben Gurion’s Principal and teachers, we have come up with a library construction and literature supplementation plan. Our first step is to assess the needs of the school and supply the children with novels and text books that they are required to read.

The second phase includes the transformation of a large storage room into a library and multimedia center with age-appropriate literature for all grades and computers with internet for academic research. Once the project is completed, the scholars will train the teachers to use the library’s resources and computer equipment. The students will be able to spend time in the library before and after school, and the teachers will use it as a teaching resource by reserving library time during the week.

The projected cost for Ben Gurion’s library and literature supplementation is $10,000 which will include ten computers with internet access, a wide range of age-appropriate literature for kindergarten through eighth grade students, a projector, other basic literacy tools, and construction materials to repair and improve the existing room. See cost breakdown

By the end of 2008, in addition to the construction of the library at Ben Gurion, Scholars for Schools will also construct libraries in two other resource-deficient elementary schools in the Valparaiso region. With an estimated cost of $10,000 for each library, the total cost for this year will be $30,000.

Long Term Vision

All current scholars are dedicated to seeing the success of this project not only this year, but also for years to come. When our scholarship year is over, the project will continue with the next group of incoming scholars that will be in the Valparaiso area in 2009. With their help and the help of Rotaract and Rotary clubs in Valparaiso, Scholars for Schools will continue to help bring literacy resources to the neediest children in Central Chile.

Funding

Scholars for Schools is a non-profit organization that relies solely on the donations from generous individuals, Rotarians, Rotary clubs, and other US and Chilean organizations. 100% of the donations received go towards funding current and future library construction projects and purchasing literacy resources for under-funded Chilean elementary schools. Help us bring educational tools to a population in need and in turn combat illiteracy, poverty and social risk by donating to scholars for Schools today.