Building for the Future: A High School for Puerto Aventuras

ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN

Community leaders and local businesses and organizations have joined forces to launch “Building for the Future,” a $35,000 USD fundraising campaign to construct the first phase of a community high school in the Poblado of Puerto Aventuras.

Teenagers in the Poblado have limited options for secondary education. A high school program serving 50 students operates in a small community center, where there is space to accommodate just two grades; there are three grades in Mexican high school. Because of this space limitation, some students go to Playa del Carmen to attend high school, but the commute and added travel costs are a burden for many families, and some choose not to send their children to high school at all.

Approximately 150 students are enrolled in the local middle school, and forty students will graduate this July. This and future graduating classes need and deserve a local high school that can accommodate all students who want to continue their education past the ninth grade.

Community members from both sides of the highway have come together to address the population’s most urgent need: the construction of one classroom, two bathrooms and a small office that will accommodate the third high school class. Once this phase is complete, the community organizers are committed to work with local authorities to ensure the completion of the high school that will be an asset to the community and the key to a better future for many of Puerto’s young residents.

The land that the high school will be built on has been set aside by the local government specifically for the school and plans have been developed and approved for the building. All that’s needed is YOUR support to get the project off the ground this summer so that students and teachers can begin using the space for the 2010-2011 academic year. Time is of the essence, so act now!