“Reach Out” is an educational and leadership project sponsored by the Shippensburg University Honors Program in Pennsylvania, United States.The project collaborates with the Camino de Enseñanza (Way of Teaching) school and the Huellas (Footprints) project, two of the 16 Holistic Child Development Centers in the Dominican Republic Compassionate Ministry and the Casa de Dios (House of God) Church of the Nazarene Social Ministry, pastored by Rev.Edilio Balbuena, in the Tropical neighborhood.
Each January, twelve students, a counselor (Stephanie Erdice), two professors (Robert Lesman and Gretchen Pierce) visit the Dominican Republic for a week, bringing educational materials, informative manuals for teachers and lesson plans.Participants share the latest pedagogical research and practice with the Camino de Enseñanza and Huellas staff through collaborative workshops and practical classroom lessons.
The project holds an intercultural collaboration, which has a priority helping children grow between intellectual curiosity, enthusiasm for learning, discipline and academic performance.By providing this support, the Reach Out team itself greatly benefits by learning from educational philosophies and practices of the Dominican teachers, experience the richness of Dominican culture, develop their comprehension about children, and compassion for the children and also improve their communication in Spanish.Putting into practice what they have studied in their theoretical courses in Shippensburg, American students strengthen their own pedagogical learning.The project has helped American students get good jobs after participating in the program and graduating. An unexpected benefit of the project was to create interest in the Dominican culture among students and faculty of the University of Shippensburg through fundraising activities and public information.
Information provided by: Paquita Bido Balbuena, Central Field NCM Coordinator and Laura Garcia, Camino de Enseñanza Director.
Editing: Mesoamerica Communications.
