Donors can give less than $300 to aid in sponsoring one student's
education.  Any amount is a great help, and together, we can make sure
all of these students get the opportunity to go to high school.

Your tax deductable check donations can be mailed to...


Please make checks payable to IPM Project #750.


...or click on the link to the right to donate online with a credit card.

Reina Aguilar

Reina is one of the most creative and generous students I've had the pleasure to teach. She loves animals and nature, and often writes poetry about her experiences with nature. She rescues wounded animals and nurses them back to health. She plants medicinal herbs in her parents' garden and educates her peers about the importance of taking care of the environment.

Reina is one of 16 siblings, and also lives with her mother, father, aunt, cousins, and her older sister's children. Her father works as a sharecropper and she often helps him in the various stages of planting -corn, beans, and other basic crops. She would like to continue her studies in biology, and later environmental science so she can work to protect El Salvador's biodiversity and develop ecotourism.

Iris Cortez

Iris, like her good friend Gehicel, is very involved with community life. She enjoys preparing dances, shows, outdoor dramas, and other events. Iris has been a great help in all of the projects that the Sister School Project has begun. She always shows up for extracurricular events such as reforestation programs and school construction projects. She helped paint her school and renovate the  cultural center in Zaragoza.

Iris is a great role model for her peers  and is always in a good mood.  She is also a good student who has excelled particularly well in English.  Iris is 15-years-old and has three siblings. She lives with her grandmother and grandfather, who are street vendors outside of a large church in San Salvador. Her dream is to become and English or history  teacher in high school.

Ana de Paz

Ana is 13-years-old and recently moved from Comasagua, where her parents live in an extremely rural community, to Zaite, where she stays with her aunt.  Her parents sent her to Zaite to continue her studies, because in their community the school doesn't continue past 8th grade.  Ana is the youngest of six siblings, none of whom have gone on to study high school.  She is a gifted young woman, whose intelligence becomes apparent very quickly to anyone who engages her in conversation.  Her writing is the most advanced of her class, and Ana voraciously reads for pleasure, despite the fact that she has had little formal instruction.  I often tell Ana that she could one day become a famous writer, and I believe this, because I am consistently amazed at the quality of her poetry.

Ana's father works in construction and her mother stays at home.  Her wish is to become a doctor, so she can help sick children. Here is one of her poems (translated from Spanish), written in my class, in response to a prompt asking the students to reflect on the sense of touch:

Raquel Lopez

Raquel is fourteen years old and was second in her class last year. She is quiet and shy, but always ready to help others and support her friends.  She works hard in school and has learned a considerable amount of English.

She helps her family by cleaning the house and taking care of her two little brothers.  She lives with both her parents and her grandmother.  Her mother doesn't work, and her father works construction, but ever since an injury left him partially paralyzed in one of his legs, he has had trouble finding work.  She wants to go to high school, earn a scholarship to university, and become a defense attorney.

Gehicel Romero

Gehicel is compassionate, sensitive, bright, and often busy organizing  community events such as birthday parties, dances, or holiday  celebrations.  Gehicel, along with her good friend Iris, is involved  in many community events with her church, and with the mayor's office.

She organizes presentations for Zaragoza's patron saint festival and  other community events.  Gehicel choreographs and performs her own  dances and is a talented performer.  She is also studious and does  well in school.   Gehicel is 14-years-old and lives only with her mother, who works in a  factory.  She has two siblings, and her wish is to become an  elementary school teacher.  She is a big-hearted young woman who is  always worried about others.

Wendy Abarca

Wendy was the #1 student in her class last year and has always taken her studies very seriously.  She is friendly, open, and talkative, and always comes to class with a smile on her face.

She is 16-years-old and lives with her mother, father, and four siblings.  She helps her family with chores such as washing clothes at a spring near their house.  Her older sister is 20, and has a child.  Her mother works preparing food for a school, and her father works in a furniture factory.  Wendy wants to continue her education so she can become a high school literature teacher.

Marcos Alfaro

Marcos is a highly intelligent student with an overall B+ average.  He is shy when talking in front of a group, but is dedicated, and always shows up to community service projects for reforestation, painting, community-clean ups, and other activities.

He lives in a house with his 11 brothers and sisters and both of his parents.  They live in a three room, small cinderblock home that was donated to them by USAID, the U.S. foreign aid program.  Marcos follows in a tradition of perseverance in his family.  His older brother earned a scholarship to attend high school and is now in the national university.  Marcos has various academic interests, but is more inclined towards math and science.  He entertains the idea of being a math teacher, and would like to continue his studies in high school and university one day.