	The Emaus Scholarship Foundation's EXCHANGE FOR CHANGE PROJECT

Please click on the links below for additional information our scholarship program.

Overview

The Emaus Foundation offers scholarships to academically motivated 7th grade girls from rural Honduras with limited academic resources. Scholarships are granted to girls entering a full-time program of high school study within one year from the scholarship application deadline. Funds are granted on a per-year basis with the possibility for repeat awards and are used for registration, transportation, books and class materials, uniforms, and school-related incidentals. Scholarships are awarded to students with the best educational records who also demonstrate the required financial need and the desire to continue to studying. The criteria for recipient selection is at the discretion of the Emaus Foundation Board, giving preference first to girls that have demonstrated an inclination to serve their community through involvement in community activities, and secondly to those that show the probability of using their education to better their community.

What makes our scholarship unique is the commitment we make to each child upon offering them their first year scholarship. We are dedicated to offering each student yearly scholarships as long as they meet the Foundation’s requirements, for as long as they choose to study and as far as they choose to go. Although we believe that education is valuable in whatever quantity, a single year of high school is not sufficient for a child to significantly improve their life, their family’s lives, or their community. Due to the economic sacrifices these families have made allowing their children to attend school instead of working, we decided it was necessary for us to make a multi-year commitment.

If a recipient drops out of school before the semester is over, she will not be required to repay the funds she has already used, but she may jeopardize her access to future funds. Any recipient that is found to have provided false information in her application will loose access to current and all future funds.

Selection criteria

The award of our scholarship is not strictly needs based. That is to say we did not select the poorest of the poor from the community we chose to work with this year, although anyone who has had the chance to visit the homes where these children live would agree they need this scholarship. Instead, our scholarship focuses on students in need with the greatest potential for success rather than those in the direst conditions of poverty.

To be eligible for our scholarship, the students must meet the following criteria:

Academic excellence - The applicant must have at least a C average in all classes upon finishing 6th grade.
Financial need - The applicant must demonstrate financial need for the scholarship.
Attend school full time - The applicant must attend school full time and not work during the school year.
Personal responsibility - The applicant cannot be married, a mother, or pregnant. We believe that it is much harder for a pregnant or married student to achieve academic excellence. We also believe that many girls get married and/or become pregnant because they don't have the opportunity to go to school.
Professional aspirations - The applicant must demonstrate a desire to finish school and become a professional member of the community. Many people have worked long hours to ensure the availability of this scholarship for the chosen recipients this year. We have volunteered our money, time, and effort out of a strong belief that every child deserves a chance at education and that education is key to development. We are interested in funding girls that demonstrate an interest in one day using their education to achieve a professional career.
Parental support - The applicant's family is also a part of the selection criteria. We believe that parental involvement in education is extremely important. In order to receive the scholarship, the students family must agree to support their daughter's education, giving them time and space to complete their homework and also moral and personal support when necessary.

Application Process

Our 20-page application packet was a foreign concept to most applicants. Here in Honduras, family connections and social status dictate most opportunities and little is actually merit based or determined through open competition. We decided to make our process different. We developed an application that required the applicants to be organized, and was designed to eliminate those that were not seriously inclined toward future education. Also, as people in this area tend to live in the mountains to work during the coffee harvesting season, applicants had to sacrifice at least one day of work and travel back to La Libertad to attend the workshops, do the family interviews, and collect various parts of the application. Their effort demonstrated a real desire to earn this opportunity. The application consists of the following sections:

Personal Information, including name, birth date, hobbies, aspirations
Family information, including parents' names, professions, and number of siblings
Demonstration of financial need as judged by average yearly family income and expenses
Letter of recommendation from 6th grade teacher
Individual and family interviews
Personal essay written as part of interview process
Parental essay discussing how they would support their child emotionally and educationally
Official transcript
Sample of written work done during 6th grade

The girls were also asked to sign a contract which clearly details our requirements and the behavior which would result in the loss of scholarship funds. To continue receiving the scholarship, applicants must remain in good academic standing, unwed, and without children. In addition, they are required to meet weekly with our local liaison, appropriately manage their scholarship funds, and inform us immediately of any changes in their personal, family, or financial situations.

Selection Process

This year, we chose to target our scholarship in small villages within 1-3 hours walking distance from La Libertad (the town with the public high school). The relative expense of room and board for a child living far away from La Libertad would have allowed us to only offer one or two scholarships at the most. Also, the farther away from the municipal capital the child has lived, the lower the quality of elementary education, and greater the difficulties that child might have adjusting to life in a bigger town. In the future, we hope to offer full scholarships including room and board to exceptional students from far outlying areas.

We initially limited out applicant pool to those girls graduating from 6th grade that lived in La Pista. We asked the 6th grade teacher and school director to suggest the top female students and offered them the opportunity to apply. Of those, one girl said she did not want to continue to go to school, and another felt that the application process was too long. They were both given second and third chances to apply, but decided not to. During the process, we were approached by individual community members asking for applications and ended up accepting Dilcia that way. Also, during the application process, the community received news that the local vocational school failed to become certified and would have funding cut. This created an increased demand for alternative options, and many parents asked for applications. In the end, because we only had the capacity to accept one more applicant, and in an effort to not create false hopes, we asked only the highest scoring female member of the class that was canceled to apply. We also confirmed with community leaders and teachers that the students who received our scholarship were in economic need.

We have seen the human face of the need and desire for access to educational opportunity and have become even more resolute in our mission to provide more scholarships in the coming years.

Costs

Our 10,000 Lempira scholarship covers the purchase of school uniforms, school supplies, school books, recorder, registration fee, daily transportation, school snack, and 50L. per month for extra school activities (ie: field trips, school dances, etc). The chart below has more specific information. So far, the girls have spent less than budgeted on almost every line item; they have proven to be excellent economizers. We encouraged the girls to be thrifty as the school year begins in case they loose their backpack or have an unforeseen expense later in the year. Whatever is left over in their account at the end of the school year may be used for school related incidentals such as class photos, parade costume, or a gift for their teacher, or the money may be put towards the following school years educational expenses.

We do not cover medical expenses, casual clothing, food, extra-curricular activity fees (ie: sports equipment), transportation to work on group projects, tools for technical workshops (home ec, agropec), internet/ computer time, or transportation fees for parents to attend PTA meetings. Such items, if not covered by the school, will be the responsibility of the child’s parent(s).

Item	Quantity	Cost per item	Total Cost
Long sleeve shirts	2	$8.65	$17.30
Short sleeve shirts	3	$1.63	$4.89
Skirts	2	$7.57	$15.14
T-shirts	2	$4.33	$8.66
Tennis shoes	1	$21.63	$21.63
Black dress shoes	2	$16.22	$32.44
White socks	5	$1.63	$8.15
Hat	1	$4.33	$4.33
Stockings	3	$1.63	$4.89
Athletic pants	1	$10.82	$10.82
Notebooks	15	$0.92	$13.80
Graph paper	1	$2.71	$2.71
Writing pad	12	$0.82	$9.84
Binder	12	$0.11	$1.32
Regulation T-shirts	1	$2.71	$2.71
Rulers	1	$1.09	$1.09
Calculator	1	$2.71	$2.71
Compass	1	$5.41	$5.41
Civics book	1	$7.03	$7.03
Social studies book	1	$7.03	$7.03
Science book	1	$7.03	$7.03
Math book	1	$7.03	$7.03
Honduran workbook in general studies	1	$7.03	$7.03
Spanish-English dictionary	1	$2.71	$2.71
Dictionary	1	$2.71	$2.71
Pencils	5	$0.82	$4.10
Pens	12	$0.28	$3.36
Markers	3	$1.63	$4.89
Drawing pencils	2	$0.82	$1.64
Stapler	1	$2.71	$2.71
Box of pencil leads	1	$1.63	$1.63
Erasers	2	$0.28	$0.56
Colored pencils	1	$1.63	$1.63
Box of staples	1	$0.76	$0.76
White out	1	$2.17	$2.17
Backpack	1	$10.82	$10.82
Medicine	1	$2.71	$2.71
Medicine	1	$1.36	$1.36
Scissors	1	$1.36	$1.36
Recorder	1	$1.36	$1.36
Daily bus trip	200	$1.09	$218.00
Other monthly costs	10	$2.71	$27.10
Total cost for school supplies		$169.63	$494.57


Daily salary for coordinator	48	$5.41	$259.46
Internet time for coordinator	48	$1.08	$51.89
Annual cost/student for the coordinator			$62.27

Total cost per student			$556.84
Total cost of the scholarship program			$2,784.20

Note on the Honduran Education System

Some of you may be wondering why we keep referring to high school when our scholarship recipients have only just completed 6th grade. In Honduras, colegio (high school) consists of ciclo comun (common cycle) and carrera (career). Most colegios offer diplomas in just 1-3 subjects depending on what job skills are needed in that area, and most municipalities have high schools only in their capital cities. For example, in La Libertad, a student can choose between agropecuaria (agricultural sciences) or hogar (home management) at the public IPPO, and secretaria (secretarial arts), perito mercantile (accounting), and bachillerato (pre-university) at the private High School. Here as in many other areas in Honduras, the public school actually has a better reputation than the private school.