[spacer height=”20px”]Spend a week with God and the rich community of the Ixil region of Guatemala to lift students up from poverty through education. [spacer height=”20px”]Impact Teams visit the new school spending time with our Nicolás Christian School students and families. Teams make day trips to the local villages of La Bendición and La Esperanza or other NFE villages. Rewards of Going on an Impact Team Trip Make Real Friends Be Filled with a Deeper Experience with God Transform Lives through Love Be a part of God’s Justice Mission in the World Adventure: Caves, Waterfalls and Mountains You May Be Showered with Flowers! Join us on an Impact Trip With just five simple steps, you can begin a life-changing adventure. This is what you need to do to join us on an Impact Trip to beautiful Guatemala. Read the Nicolás Fund for Education Handbook for important information about the area and people that we will be traveling to, as well as information about the work of the Nicolás Fund for Education. Complete the Impact Trip Application. Complete the Background Check Form. Email your Application and Background Check form. Mail your $100 deposit. 2018 Impact Trips July 20-30 November Graduation 2019 Impact Trips February 15-25 Want to Know More?

  [spacer height=”20px”]Facing Challenges Many of us remember feeling quite insecure and overwhelmed when we entered 7th grade.  Nicolás Fund for Education scholars are no different! Our NFE scholars also have an added challenge of coming from primary schools with far fewer resources than more urban schools. We even found out a few years ago that the villages of La Bendición and La Esperanza did not even have textbooks! (Thanks to a generous NFE supporter, we were able to supply those two village primary schools with their first set of primary school textbooks.) Innovation at Work In our first few years of operation, we noticed that our NFE scholars really struggled to keep up academically in the first few months of 7th grade. With extensive after school tutoring provided through NFE and lots of hard work on the part of the students, the students eventually caught up. Our Country Director, Ivan España, searched for a better plan that would be less stressful for students and would be more cost-effective for NFE. Thanks to the work of Ivan España, Nicolás Fund for Education subsequently developed a program three years ago called Winter School to help prepare our 7th-gradestudents for academic success. While Winter School camps are more common in urban Guatemala, this concept is new in the Ixil region. Winter School is four weeks long and takes place in November after the academic year ends at the end of October. Making the Grade This year, Winter School took place on our Nicolás Christian School campus and involved students from five villages! Eighteen 6th grade students attended winter school. Computer, English, and language skills are the focus of Winter School. We have definitely …

Thank you to all our volunteer social media ambassadors that participated in #GivingTuesday! And a really BIG thank you to the donors who responded! We raised $6,250 (some matching funding still pending may increase that number) that day because of your generosity. Those donations will help to provide quality education for Ixil youth that will enable them to compete economically, politically and to better provide for their future families. It is not too late to donate! Donations are very welcome. You can donate at Nicolás Fund for Education.

[spacer height=”20px”]At the conclusion of our first year of operating Nicolás Christian School, and the 5th year of NFE’s existence, we want to give thanks to God and to those people who helped make it all possible: our donors, supporters, and prayer warriors! You have faithfully partnered with God in his plan to lift the Ixil region out of poverty through educating Ixil youth. This year alone, eight students have graduated from high school, one student graduated from weekend school and one student graduated from her distance learning program!! May we all continue to listen and follow God’s plan for our work in 2017! We wish all of you a hope-filled New Year!

[spacer height=”20px”]Ten senior high students graduated from Nicolás Christian School on November 15th in our very first graduation ceremony! Eight students graduated from high school, Juanita graduated from a distance learning program administered through Nicolás Christian School and Juan Ismael graduated from a special weekend básico program (somewhat like a GED) that allows the student to work during the week and attend school on the weekend. Graduates included Ana Cordova, Pedro Davíd, Magdalena Sara, Antonio, Maria Abigail, Andres Israel, Miguel Julio, and Domingo Marvín. Gold honor cords were awarded for academic excellence to Ana Cordova, Magdalena Sara, Pedro Davíd and Miguel Julio. In addition to our graduating high school students, six students graduated from junior high school on the same day. The graduating 9th-grade students are María Yat, Isabel Rebeca, Pedro Isaías, Sylvia Lucrecia, Isabela Elda and Andrés Noé. It will be exciting to follow the progress of these new high school students next year! It was a very worshipful ceremony with praise music and scripture readings. In Guatemala, we were told that it is traditional for graduation ceremonies to name their graduation for a specific person. Nicolás Christian School students chose NFE vice chairperson, Kathy Riper. Kathy gave a short speech expressing her gratitude for what God has achieved through Nicolás Christian School in the lives of the students. A PowerPoint about Kathy’s life was part of the ceremony. Brand new royal blue graduation robes and caps were accented with bright red sashes that had the school logo embroidered on one side and a traditional Ixil weaving pattern embroidered on the other side. Graduates, staff, parents and guests were treated to a sumptuous lunch after the ceremony ended. Several …

Our November team is just about to depart on November 10th to attend and celebrate our student’s graduation ceremonies. Please keep them in your prayers for safe travels and no lost luggage! Our February 2017 Nicolás Fund for Education Impact Team is currently full. Sign Up for the July 2017 Impact Trip [spacer height=”20px”]We are now accepting applications and deposits for our July 21 – 31, 2017 trip . Members of that team will spend time with junior and senior high students at Nicolás Christian School, assist with our Teacher Professional Development Workshop and will visit the student’s villages. For more information, contact Becci with the form below.

[spacer height=”20px”]Join us on December 4th at 11:30 am for our Textile Sale to purchase beautiful and colorful hand-woven textiles from Guatemala! [spacer height=”20px”]The textile sale will be in Fellowship Hall at Evergreen Covenant Church on Mercer Island. We will also be hosting July and November Team trip reports that day in addition to the Textile Sale and snacks will be served. Come and hear how our school’s first graduation ceremonies went!  The Trip Report will be in ECC’s Fellowship Hall on the second floor.  Parking available in the main parking lot, upper parking lot and on the street.

Nicolás Christian School is training our students to build their own desks! [spacer height=”20px”]Currently, students use tables and benches. This is problematic because when a student needs to get up, the whole bench must stand up and that interrupts learning. Students will be provided with a template of a student desk with a writing surface from which to work. Students will be trained to use carpentry tools and how to follow the template design while teachers oversee the project. This program will teach valuable carpentry skills to both boys and girls, in addition to providing school furniture!

[spacer height=”20px”]Our Nicolás Christian School students have been self-producing videos featuring the “Student of the Week”. [spacer height=”20px”]You can find these videos on our website in the “Video Gallery” section. The videos are an excellent way to get to know individual students and teachers at Nicolás Christian School. The students are developing marketable skills such as Digital Imaging, Conceptual Storytelling, Editing, Production, Sound Design, and Scriptwriting. The NCS students in the media program have an incredible potential to impact their communities and develop their God-given abilities. With the skills garnered through the media program, the students also have the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty. However, they are in need of some additional resources such as microphones and editing equipment. Will you help provide the video production equipment for these talented children?