2015 Academic Achievement Awards in Haiti

In 2013, Help for Haiti launched an initiative to emphasize the importance of continuous education, and to reward students for their diligence in the classroom. This week we will be honoring the students of the Marmelade school in Haiti for their hard work and measurable success!In July of every year, Haiti’s Ministry of Education administers a national exam to measure the progress of its students’ educational development. Children are graded on a scale of 1.0 to 9.0, with 9.0 being a perfect score. Unfortunately, the economic pressure in Haiti forces families to make challenging decisions that impact the continuity of their children’s education. Consequently, some kids are in their teens and yet still in grade school.Help for Haiti’s initiative pushes our mission to educate children by awarding every child who earns a 7.0 or above on the exam with an Academic Achievement Certificate, a New Testament Bible and special cover made by kids at Bethany Church in Greenland, New Hampshire. Children who score an 8.0 or above receive an Academic Achievement Certificate, a complete Bible and special cover, as well as a financial gift of up to 2,000 gourdes, equivalent to roughly 45 U.S. dollars. These funds more than pay for the students’ cost of school for the next year, alleviating the pressure placed on their families and allowing the children to better focus on their education. The student retention beyond the 6^th grade is already improving after just two years.Last year, 20 students in our school in Marmalade achieved a score of 7.0 or higher; a marked improvement over 2013. And thanks to all of your generous support in our mission to educate the children of Haiti, this year Jim and the Help for Haiti team have the pleasure of presenting 31 certificates of achievement! This is over 10% of all our students at Marmelade!Vil Mariette was both last year’s and this year’s top scorer on the exam in the entire Marmelade school with a score of 8.93. Five more students scored above an 8.0, and the average grade in the whole school has improved one full grade point in two years! Overall, the average exam grade at the Marmelade school is 63 percent, up from 54 percent in 2013. Our goal is for the entire school to be above 70 percent, and our 7^th and 8^th grades have already achieved this percentage this year.It is truly a blessing to bring you this good news. These children are working so hard, and are incredibly excited to receive their awards in front of their teachers and classmates in school this week. We believe these kids, and hundreds more, will complete their educational journey because of the work we are doing today. Thank-you for continuing your support as we strive to feed and educate children in order to mold them into employable, self-sustaining adults.On behalf of Pastor Villens and Pierre G. the school Director, Marcot Vernois and Jean Nelson Denis, and all the kids at L’ Institution Mixte Martin Luther de Planton, Marmelade.Thank you, Thank you!Onward & Blessings,Jim & Betsy WilleySave