What is Adelante Estudiante

What is ADELANTE ESTUDIANTE??

It is Scholarships for Children in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico

Change a child’s life for less than the cost of cup of coffee per day: sponsor a Mexican child’s education through Castaway Kids’ scholastic sponsorship program, Adelante Estudiante!

Our children’s scholarship program started just two years ago when we became aware of a 12 year old boy in Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico who dropped out of an English class taught by volunteers from San Carlos at the children’s home, Hogar Paz y Bien in Guaymas — because his family couldn’t afford tuition, uniforms, books, school supplies and transportation.

Our charity immediately created a scholarship program that matches sponsors with needy students in Guaymas, and by the time the 2009 school year began 40 students had been matched with sponsors and another 5 had their college tuition’s paid by our general fund.

As of school year 2010/11, we have 100 sponsored students within Sonoran school systems!

Our mission is to remove the economic obstacles many of these students face, because sometimes no matter how good their grades are or how much they want to improve their situation in life through higher education, their family’s economic circumstances are such that the expenses of tuition and uniforms and school supplies are simply unaffordable.

Our organization has found that working with the social workers at Guaymas schools has been an excellent resource for identifying students who not only have the economic need, but who are the most motivated.

The cost of a child’s sponsorship varies depending on the grade level of the student.

Secundaria (Junior High School) $300 USD per school year We start academic sponsorships at the Secundaria level where tuition is only $30-40 USD.  At this school level, our sponsors usually choose to pay for uniforms, a backpack and school supplies, school shoes, etc. $300 USD fully supports the education of your sponsored child for a year, including uniform and supplies.

Preparatoria (High School) $450 USD per school year At the Preparatoria level tuition is slightly higher, and full sponsorship is $450 USD per year.

Universitaria (College) $950 USD per school year Only $950 USD annually will  pay the tuition at a local university. We have worked with both universities in Guaymas and in Obregon.

It is also possible for groups to sponsor a child, for example, two couples sponsoring a single student at any donation level.

Consider Alternative Gift Giving! Many of our sponsors have chosen to sponsor a Mexican student in lieu of traditional holiday or birthday gifts. We have gift certificates available at any level of sponsorship or for a one-time donation to the General Fund — they make great presents for the kids back home who, probably don’t really need another electronic device!

We ask our scholarship students to keep .80 grade point average, or better, and have seen most of our students make large improvements in their grades, just because they know there is an opportunity to continue their education. They now have hope for a better tomorrow.

Guaymas school administrators and teachers have been very supportive of our scholarship program for needy students and appreciate our efforts to help students who were falling through the cracks.

But our efforts go far beyond financial assistance.  Castaway Kids scholarship program is an attempt to facilitate longer term relationships between our sponsors and their sponsored student, and encourage mentoring of these children by those of us who are so fortunate.   Our belief is that lasting relationships formed between sponsors and students will be helpful to the student as he / she progress to higher educational levels — and matures into a healthy and successful adult. It has been truly heart-warming to see how many scholarship sponsors have embraced this idea — a big thank you to all the sponsors who have made the decision to become a larger part of their sponsored child’s life!

Language need not be a barrier. Castaway Kids has assembled a large pool of bilingual volunteers who are willing to be matched with a student and his or her sponsor, to facilitate communication.   With the bilingual volunteer’s assistance, we have sponsors who have taken their students shopping for shoes and uniforms; gone to meet their parents; gone to meet the social workers at their schools; taken them to lunch or even swimming with the dolphins — in short, they have formed a relationship that we hope will be permanent.

We know that there will be circumstances where longer term relationships are not possible — perhaps you live in Edmonton or London? –

We are also aware that while some sponsors may want to have more of a personal relationship with their students, some simply wish to supply the money. This is one of the purposes of our General Fund: to be sure that tuition can be covered for students that have kept their grades up, but may have lost their sponsors along the way.   .

If you would like to be a sponsor please Fill out the form below and we will match you with a suggested student rapidly!

If you have a preference as to age or gender of student let us know and we will try to make a good fit.

If you simply wish to make a donation to our General Fund, it is tax deductible in the United States and Mexico. The fastest way for your funds to reach us is through the PayPal function on this website.

Alternatively, you can mail a check to: Castaway Kids, Inc., c/o Kathy Berault, 1131 North Paseo  Maravilloso, Green Valley, Arizona  85614. Please put Adelante Estudiante or Scholarship Committee in the memo line.

Help us stop the cycle of poverty through education, one student at a time.  One Starfish at a time!