The Industrial/Organizational Psychology students and faculty traveled to Ecuador in May 2010 to take part in a service-learning opportunity with the Yachana Technical High School in the Amazon region of Ecuador. As a part of our service-learning, we are hoping to better the communication between staff members of the Yachana School by providing them with two-way radios.
In the Amazon region of Ecuador, poverty, environmental degradation, and poor quality of public education are all inextricably linked. Thirty percent of elementary school children in the Amazon region do not finish the 6th grade. Only 15% finish secondary schooling. Students drop out because they feel the current public education available in their remote communities is impractical and irrelevant to their everyday lives.
Meaningful education is the key to reversing generations of poverty, raising environmental awareness and ensuring the sustainable use of the region's natural resources. With the proper preparation, Amazon youth can become good stewards of their land, leaders within their communities and ambassadors for the Amazon.
The Yachana Technical High School is a non-traditional boarding school providing a practical and relevant experiential learning approach. It is forging a new generation of green leaders and entrepreneurs and is sparking students' interest and desire to continue their education.
While at Yachana we interviewed students and staff of the Yachana School and others in the Amazon community regarding their greatest needs in order to help them implement practical long-term solutions. We observed Yachana classrooms and projects. We hope to be able to provide the school with two-way radios because cell phone service is extremely limited in the area.
If you would like to make a tax deductible donation to purchase radios for the school, please send checks made out to Psychology Graduate Student Association to the address below:
Attn: Dan Sachau
23 Armstrong Hall
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Mankato, MN 56001
Thank you.
