Marina Orth: Escritos

THE FOUNDATION

Tue, 8 Jun 2010 13:49:55 -0700

The Foundation

Welcome to the web site of the Marina Orth Foundation. In the United States we are called the Marina Orth Foundation. We are a 501.c3 non-profit organization that serves underprivileged schools in Colombia. At the request of the secretary of education of Medellin, we have developed a pilot program in English and Information Technology with teachers and students at the Marina Orth Rural School, a school of 350 students from kindergarten through high school. This program makes the Marina Orth school the first public bilingual school in the country. It is also the first school in Colombia to provide every primary school student a laptop from the One Laptop per Child Foundation. We are currently planning to develop similar projects in other schools in Colombia.

Thanks to the work of the Marina Orth Foundation and the generosity of the Chevron Corporation, each student in kindergarten through fifth grade at the Marina Orth School has his own personal laptop to use at school and take home with him. The foundation has also arranged for the donation of thirty PC’s for the technology room, as well as the construction of a new cafeteria and new field house for athletics, assemblies, and after school programs. The foundation is currently developing its VUELA (Taking Flight) Project that seeks to use the laptops in innovative ways to improve education. The foundation is also developing an advanced English program in the school.

OUR STORY

Escuela Marina Orth began in the sixties when Peace Corps volunteer, Maureen Orth was asked by the people of the rural community of Aguas Frias, in the Andes mountains above Medellin, to help them build a school. With a donation of building materials from the National Federation of Coffee Growers, the people carved a site out of the side of the mountain and together with Marina built their first school. Escuela Marina Orth began with two classrooms and 35 students. Today it is a fully equipped primary and secondary school with 350 students from pre kindergarten through high school.

In 2004, Dr. Horacio Arango, Secretary of Education of Medellin, asked Maureen Orth to help make the school named for her the first public bilingual school in Medellin. In 2005, she hired Luis Fernando Sanchez to be Executive Director of the Marina Orth Foundation, which was formally incorporated in 2006. Since the formal incorporation of two non-profit foundations, Marina Orth Foundation in the United States and Fundacion Marina Orth in Colombia, the foundation has dedicated itself to creating a model public school to eventually be replicated elsewhere so that primary and secondary students in Colombia and elsewhere, no matter their race, gender or economic background, can compete globally and make a positive contribution to the world.

NEWS

Teacher's day

Tue, 8 Jun 2010 13:49:00 -0700

Teacher Appreciation Day is held every year in Colombia on May XXth. During the month of May students and parents honored all of the teachers of the Marina Orth School and Campo Alegre School. The photos are of a celebration hosted by the Parents' Council and the Foundation.

CELEBRATION OF THE ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD COMPUTERS BEING GIVEN TO CHILDREN OF CAMPO ALEGRE SCHOOL AND THE INAUGURATION OF THEIR INTERACTIVE CLASSROOM

Fri, 21 May 2010 13:56:24 -0700

"Welcome everybody," began fourth grader Yulieth franco in english. Yulieth served as master of ceremonies for the "Presentation of the ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD Computers and Inauguration of the First Interactive Classroom" in the Campo Alegre Rural School, in EL CARMEN DE VIBORAL .

Ministry of Education of Colombia, and the Education Impact Organization of Chile visited us

Wed, 5 May 2010 12:57:29 -0700

On May 4, we were visited by representatives from the Ministry of Education of Colombia and the Education Impact Organization of Chile. They were able to observe and interact with the primary school students using the laptops. Along with sharing the pertinent information about this technological and pedagogical experience, our visitors reminded us how we are an example not only in Colombia but throughout South America.

Participation in Council “Lúdico” in Medellín

Wed, 5 May 2010 12:55:34 -0700

María Camila Castañeda, a fourth grade student at the school in Aguas Frías, participated in a city-wide Student Council representing the 70^th communa, or neighborhood, of Medellin. With the support and guidance of Inder, the Marina Orth Foundation, and the school, she garnered recognition for her performance in this activity. During the course of the event, she was interviewed by the regional television station Telemedellin and the newspaper Altavista Somos.

School's First Leadership Workshop

Wed, 5 May 2010 12:53:45 -0700

With lots of energy, the educational community in Aguas Frías and in Campo Alegre launched the school's first Leadership Workshop this April 29th and 30th. In the workshop, teachers, the principals, and staff from both of the Foundation's locations trained students in assertiveness, social skills, goal creating, life planning, and self-analytic exercises that included documenting their personal history and defining their future.

Visit of Chevron

Fri, 23 Apr 2010 12:15:13 -0700

On February 4 of this year we received the visit of directors of Chevron Petroleum Company for Latin America and the Caribbean. His president, Wes Lohec, the president for Colombia, David Banz and the manager of public affairs and government Patricia Serrano accompanied by an important people, observed by first hand the progress we have achieved in the primary students using their laptops on the One Laptop Per Child Project, that the Foundation has been developing since 2 June 2008.

In the photo can be seen the enthusiasm of every body during the short and simple ceremony that ended with the presentation by the visitors, school kits to all students of Marina Orth Rural School; after which members visited classrooms where Chevron personal interacted with students, teachers and staff responsible for such of the Foundation projects.

At the conclusion of a multimedia presentation given in the summary assessment of the path in this project, explained by the executive director of the Foundation.

One of our students will be attending The Youth Ambassadors Program

Fri, 16 Apr 2010 13:33:06 -0700

Our 10th grade student Yuliana Quintero Monsalve, who just turned 15 a few months ago, has been chosen among many applicants from all over Colombia to participate in the Youth Ambassadors Program, an immersion program supported by the U.S. Department of State. As a part of this experience she will visit different U.S. cities like New York and Washington D.C. where she will have the chance to interact with young Americans, learn more about their culture, and improve her English and leadership skills.

International Visitors Leadership Program

Mon, 12 Apr 2010 11:19:55 -0700

From March 13th to April 3rd Luis Fernando Sanchez Hurtado, the executive director of the Marina Orth Foundation participated in the International Visitors Leadership Program hosted by the U.S. State Department. As a part of this program, he had the opportunity to meet with specialists in a variety of fields including education and the arts. He also was able to visit different sites of interest and was able to observe and participate in a variety of cultural events. The ILVP provided the participants with a deep understanding of the diverse political, social, economic, and cultural life of the United States through exposure to diverse points of view. This was also a great opportunity to develop lasting and beneficial contacts with organizations in the United States.

February 25 Coming Soon: Our Virtual Classroom

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:01:41 -0700

On December 2nd the teachers of the Campo Alegre Rural School, located in the hamlet Campo Alegre, a neighborhood of the town of El Carmen de Viboral, Antioquia, about an hour from Medellin, met in the after school center, Creas, established by Marina Orth school to receive training in the fundamentals of the step by step and one laptop per child program. The teachers jointly constructed the framework of the project to build the 2010 plan of action. We are very excited to have added this wonderful new school to our program.