Category: Causes

Elementary schools in the U.S. are developing on-going communications and support for students at Sacred Heart School. Starting in 2009, third grade students at Convent Elementary in San Francisco collected funds each year to provide their counter-parts in Dangriga with news desks and classroom fans. The fall of 2011 began a new partnership between first grade students and teachers of the Haverford School in Pennsylvania and Sacred Heart in Dangriga. The students not only exchange letters and videos; they learn about each other’s world. Each Thanksgiving weekend, the Haverford first and second graders sponsor a “Turkey Bowl” soccer tournament. The proceeds go toward needed school supplies for Sacred Heart.

June, 2011 saw the first Project Learn Belize scholarships awarded to four Sacred Heart School graduates who otherwise would not be able to continue their education in high school (over $500/year, as opposed to the grade school tuition of $20). The intention is to support these students through all four years of their secondary education. In the past three years, Project Learn Belize has presented 15 scholarships , totaling over $14,000 to deserving graduates of Sacred Heart Primary School, Dangriga. Project Learn Belize joins in the hope that one day the nation of Belize and its government will learn what we have learned, that the most vital resources of this country is not tourism, nor citrus, nor expanded drilling for oil. Above all else, the promise of a successful and prosperous future for Belize is the education of ALL children through their high school years. A family’s ability to pay for schooling should never determine who is educated and who is left without. It is not a matter of politics or political parties in power; it is a matter of justice for all, for the strength and vitality of Belize.

In a joint partnership with the School of Education, members of the USF School of Nursing were part of an inaugural trip for Project Learn Belize: Health Advocacy Programs in May, 2010, which included educational units in health, nutrition, and first aid for students and teachers in Dangriga. Read more →

Teams of USF/SOE faculty provide training workshops, along with follow-up mentoring, for Belizean teachers. The “added value” of these ventures is the long-range effects of “teaching teachers”. Read more →

Students in the USF Teacher Credential/ Master’s program participate in two-week Immersion programs which find them assisting local Belizean teachers in primary schools in Dangriga. Beside their talents and energies, these Teacher Education students share their recently acquired knowledge and passion for teaching with the faculty and staff of Sacred Heart School.  At the same time, participants are exposed to, and hopefully transformed by, the realities of cultural diversity, tradition, and challenges of education, health, and governance in this developing country in the Caribbean Basin.