A week ago, the Yspaniola team was shocked to find that a robbery had taken place in our office. It was incredibly upsetting for our whole team, but with our amazing family of Yspaniola supporters behind us, we know we'll bounce back.
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Last June, Yspaniola was delighted to welcome Elisena and Sophia, our new Fellows for the 2022-2023 school year.
Elisenagraduated magna cum laude from the University of Ottawa in June 2022. She completed her degree in International Development and Globalization. Her interest in humanitarian work, especially education and human rights, led her to Yspaniola. Identifying as a Haitian-Canadian has helped Elisena integrate smoothly into the Batey community as she speaks fluent Haitian Creole. Our students and their parents are very excited to have a fellow that shares their cultural background and can communicate with them in the dominant language of the batey community!
Over the summer months, Elisena designed and delivered a summer phonics program for preschoolers, with the help of three talented local assistants, Idelove, Angelica, and Oriana. The main goal of this program was to help mitigate the summer learning loss that Yspaniola teachers have observed at the beginning of the new academic year. Elisena is excited for the student evaluations this September to see if the program had the impact she hoped to achieve.
Sophia graduated from the University of Elon with a bachelor's degree in International Global Studies in May 2022. Sophia is Colombian-American and feels that traveling to many different countries has helped form her perspective on transnational issues and development. Sophia has spent the past two years involved in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work and community engagement on her college campus as a Student Coordinator for the Center of Race Ethnicity and Diversity Education. Sophia’s previous work experience also includes volunteering with the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club in the United States. Her interest in international development and human rights has led her to Batey Libertad and she is excited to learn and grow at Yspaniola.
Similar to Elisena, Sophia created a summer program called "Cuenta Cuentos" (Storytime), where the children attended a reading hour of the classic novel, "Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". Over the course of four weeks, Sophia and her three local assistants, Love Cherly, Manuska, and Ruth, worked to keep the students engaged throughout the entire book with Narnia-themed interactive games and activities. The course culminated in a “movie theater experience” with a showing of the film that accompanies the book, complete with popcorn for all! The students loved it and their cheers rang out across the Batey as Aslan and his army finally defeated the white witch! Sophia immensely enjoyed her time working with the children and felt it was a great way to start off her fellowship. She is excited to continue working with the community and hopes to continue the trend of further creating excitement around reading.