CEA School Support Center
"CEA" is a safe space that aims to retain at-risk and vulnerable children in school and improve their academic performance while providing them with recreational activities.
The Center provides pedagogical support to approximately 80 children aged five – thirteen in core subject areas such as mathematics, English, language, and science. The children attend CEA either in the morning or the afternoon, depending on their school schedule. The children also receive a nutritional meal and their families have access to CENIT´s student scholarships.
Improving Academic Performance
The children we work with are at an educational disadvantage to their non-working counterparts because they have fewer sources of support and less time to complete their homework. CEA is important because children often advance to the next grade without learning the necessary material. Many of children´s parents are unable to help with homework because of their own limited education. Children rely on the center to successfully finish their homework, overcome knowledge deficits, and stay in school. Additionally, many of the children have learning disabilities, which are diagnosed and addressed by CENIT´s psychologists and social workers.
Discouraging Child Labour and Delinquency
Many working children spend time in the streets begging, consuming drugs, and committing delinquent activities. CEA offers recreational activities in which children can play in a structured and secure environment. This helps to decrease or eliminate their hours of work and prevent them from aimlessly roaming the streets or joining gangs.
Volunteering
School Support Volunteer
As a CEA volunteer, you will help create a safe space for the children and help reinforce that learning can be fun. CEA functions from Monday to Friday in the morning and afternoon and volunteers may participate in either or both sessions; it is not necessary that a volunteer works Monday through Friday, but they must work a fixed schedule at least three days a week.
Responsibilities
- Assist the children with their homework and studies for school in a variety of subjects, including but not limited to English, Math, and Science.
- Help the CEA teacher maintain control of the classroom.
- Provide discipline and structure necessary to create positive study habits.
- Prepare educational and recreational activities for children who finish their homework early.
Basic Qualifications
- Two-month minimum commitment.
- Intermediate Spanish.
Assets
- Commitment longer than two months.
- Advanced Spanish.
- Experience tutoring and working with children who have learning disabilities.
- Grade school knowledge of reading and writing.
Your contribution
We ask each volunteer for a one-time contribution of $100. In exchange, you will receive daily lunch, a CENIT T-shirt and the support of a full-time volunteer coordinator. Your contribution also supports the administrative costs of the volunteer office and helps sustain our programs.