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A balancing act [2014-04-26]

Each overseas trip finds us engaged in an interesting balancing act: executing our current plan, visiting and updating past sites, and planning for future projects. This week we continued our efforts updating our initial project site, Compostela National High School (CNHS). However we also had two significant meetings this week that helped to lay the foundation for future work here in the Philippines.

Reneal IEO funds a scholarship program for high school students who qualify on the basis of grades and demonstrated need. This program is administered through our church here, United Church of Christ in the Philippines, Compostela. Last Sunday Neal and I met with the scholarship committee to discuss status of the program and discuss future plans. One scholar graduated in April and the other ten scholars finished their first year of high school (7^th grade). The committee is currently reviewing the scholars’ academic records to see if they maintained the required minimum grade levels. If needed, there will be a selection process for new 8^th graders to replace students who did not fulfill the requirements. The goal is to support a total of ten scholars for School Year 2014-2015. The committee discussed some of the challenges of the program (for example, students not submitting their report cards in a timely fashion). Despite the challenges, the committee members remain enthusiastic about the program and have an excellent process for administering it. The committee will prepare a budget soon for the coming school year.

On Monday evening Neal and I met with members of our team to discuss plans for identifying schools for future projects. We were joined by Ma’am Nerry, the IT teacher at CNHS, our intern Jade, our good friend Rogie from Aboitiz, and also one of Rogie’s colleagues from Aboitiz. We brainstormed a list of candidates, aided by information that Rogie was able to obtain from the Department of Education. Then Ma’am Nerry used her vast network of connections to contact the candidates to arrange a visit. This Monday Neal, Ma’am Nerry, Jade, and I will travel to northern Cebu to visit four candidate schools for a final 2014 project. We have decided that we will add just one more school this year, due to time constraints. Installation will likely be the week of May 5^th. We also identified an additional six schools for potential evaluation for 2015 projects: some large public high schools in communities to the north of Compostela, an elementary school in Compostela, and two high schools in a larger city south of Compostela. We plan to do those evaluation visits the week of May 12^th and the week of May 19^th. Combined with our evaluations Monday, we should have a strong pool of candidates from which to choose for 2015.

Lots of exciting possibilities ahead for Reneal IEO! And in the meantime, each day brings a bit more progress on past and present projects to support the students and teachers here in the Philippines.