President of El Salvador, Sánchez Cerén,
visited COAR’s School in October, 2016
The President of the Republic of El Salvador, Sanchez Ceren, visited COAR’s School in October. The President wanted to visit Zaragoza to commend the schools in the area for their participation in his Good Living Initiative. He specifically contacted the COAR School to ask if COAR could provide 100 students who would symbolically receive computers on behalf of all of the schools in the area. COAR proudly participated and although these particular computers are destined for different schools throughout the area, the President did pledge to provide an additional 10 computers to COAR’s school for their support in this program.
At the ceremony, the President of El Salvador commended COAR’s school and our director for his leadership in academia and the school’s efforts to make life better for Salvadoran children. He specifically mentioned COAR’s
embrace of the new after school workshops: bakery arts, sustainable farming, Art-CultureRecreation, and our additional sports workshops. These workshops were developed several years ago to encourage the ½ day students to explore more hands-on subjects and remain at COAR when their classes end.
The children of El Salvador have been under siege by street gangs. Any student walking home or hanging out on the street is at risk for forced-gang recruitment.
These after-school workshops are not only designed to motivate the children by engaging in more active learning. But also, on the most practical level, they are designed to keep the children in a safe space, observed by adults, and far from the dangers on the street.