Graduation!

November 25, 2005

For the first time in it's history, Escuela Publica Canton El Zaite graduated a group of ninth graders. This was the first year that enough of their students continued to 9th grade to warrrant having a full class and 9th grade curriculum. This shows that although the drop out rate is still high in the community at around 40-50%, it is slowly changing and more students are staying in school for longer. Hopefully with the inception of the scholarship program, more students will be motivated to study longer, and the dropout rate will decline even farther.

The seventh graders decorated the school with palm fronds and balloons, and the eighth grade girls performed a dance in honor of the graduates. After the ceremony, teachers, students, parents, and siblings partook in a lunch and then a dance.

To get a glimpse of the graduation ceremony, right click and save this quick video (3MB) onto your computer.