Jessenia, who is attending her second year of college
Five years ago, Jessenia and her family needed some assistance in affording high school for her.
With a Friends Project scholarship — at $35 a year — Jessenia was able to more easily afford a book bag, books, notebooks and other supplies for her goal.
Now, she’s entering her second year of COLLEGE in Leon, Nicarugua.
She and fellow Las Minitas teen Alonso Martinez are on their way to succeeding in their dreams to become the first from their mountain community to graduate from university.
The Friends Project helps them achieve this with a $300 annual scholarship each, which goes toward transportation and school supplies. We just paid the first $300 and will fundraise to pay the last $300 in June.
You know what’s awesome? Since we have a relationship with the communities we assist, we can follow Jessenia… can’t wait to see what she does after graduation.
Every weekend, they walk down 3 hours to El Sauce, where they catch a bus in the morning (sometimes they stay overnight with relatives so they can get the bus) to Leon. They attend classes all day, then take the 1.5-hour bus ride back.
They then walk 3 hours back up the mountain.
On Sunday, Alonso is up and at English class, supported by The Friends Project. He goes Monday too.
Our $300 annual college scholarships are clearly money well spent.
So little makes a huge difference.
Thank you for your support of this idea, and Alonso and Jessenia.
This is Jessenia during high school, with her supplies!
The Friends Project 