The dedicated task of teaching the values of Christian life and social grace
with love is meritorious before God, especially when teaching children living in poverty.

Colegio Corazón de Jesús

Veracruz, Nindirí, Nicaragua

The Vision:

Colegio Corazón de Jesús was founded for the integral formation of the students and family by implementing the educational services that guarantee a quality of life in Christian, academic and cultural growth. The student can become an agent of change and interaction in a cultural milieu of peace and progress with social orientation for justice and love of Jesus Christ and Church.

The Mission:

Our Catholic education has the objective to generate valid answers and efficacy for students to demonstrate their abilities, capacities and attitudes in a process of integral learning that begins with the reality of being a child of God.

The Benchmarks

The Colegio Corazón de Jesús was founded in February 1996 by Deacon Richard Schopfer and Donald Schopfer. They arrived at the community of Veracruz with a mission call to work for social development in the context of spiritual formation and growth for those living in poverty, marginal or substandard conditions. The Deacon visited the parish Nuestro Señor de Veracruz to meet Father Guillermo and the parish youth group involved in the parish charismatic renewal. The common objectives and spiritual values were confirmed in their mutual desire to work together, beginning at the Center for Children and Family, CENFAMA, a program of the Alliance for Communities in Action, Inc a non profit, 501 ( c ) 3 public foundation. The present school enrollment has grown to over 200 students.

The first initiative with the youth group was to survey the nearby neighborhoods, on house by house basis, to know the families and to inquire about the real needs of the community.

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Our mission became clear in the diagnostic study of the communities needs:

Many children were not enrolled in school because of the lack of family resources.

The public school was a dangerously long walk for young children.

Education for young children was not a family priority. Some parents were illiterate, some children had to work.

There was a high incidence of malnutrition among young children.

The Deacon, with five youth volunteers, began teaching 33 preschoolers and some public school students with learning problems. A volunteer group of mothers was formed to make soy milk daily, which has continued to the present, along with a nutritious meal for all our students. In 1997, the graduation for the third level preschoolers took place under the mango tree. Our response to the growing demand was to increase educational services and classrooms. Deacon Richard obtained authorization from the Ministry of Education to establish the Colegio Corazón de Jesús at CENFAMA. At the same time, an application for the construction of four classrooms was presented to the municipality. This was approved and finished for use in school year 2000. Our primary school was included in the Vicariate for Catholic Education and in 2001, 16 sixth graders were graduated to secondary level. Our enrollment continued to grow rapidly.

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What Your Contribution Will Do

Help Feed Our Students Daily
Help to Provide Student Scholarships
Help to Provide School Supplies for Students
Help with Spiritual Retreats for Students and Teachers
Help Build New Classrooms
And Much More

All our graduates have hopes for secondary education at Colegio Corazón de Jesús. This hope will become a reality for them very soon, with help from many generous hearts like yours. Our present enrollment is maximized at 230 students, 40% of whom are already on scholarships. The 12 classroom teachers have morning and afternoon sessions supported by the administrative staff of four. We have a high demand for increased enrollment every year. However, more classrooms are needed now to offer secondary level education, to normalize classroom sizes and to address the increased enrollment demands of the community.

Our commitment is to respond effectively to the growing need for primary and secondary education, as well as preschool. Our goal is to enroll and educate 500 students each year. Our plan is to build a modern Catholic high school to service the Veracruz region. The wheels of progress have been moving there for several years with the influx of moderate housing, shops, and small businesses. This trend is realistic for the longer term and reflects the need for academic excellence to educate local youth for the university, train them for future employment and prepare them for parish participation in the pastoral and social teachings of the Church. Our future seeks financial support to construct classrooms for immediate expansion. Our treasure is a core of dedicated teachers, professionally and spiritually mature. They will train and nurture each student to attain their maximum capabilities for adult living, and workplace ethics for moral and civic responsibilities in a rapidly changing world. Our staff and teachers are working diligently to renew our past ten year educational process to a more comprehensive, integrated and holistic approach. Our objective is to provide an educational campus that includes preschool, primary and secondary levels with a curriculum that meets university entrance standards. Spanish and English will be offered in the normal curriculum and also for those seeking a complete bilingual education in all subjects.

Our foundational approach began in a modest but significant step forward. In the fall of 2008, we offered a Spanish class for 20 public high school students, who signed up for our eight week intensive course that included literature, semantics and grammar. This course has been conducted on the school’s covered porch. The participants report back to us on how effectively our course has prepared them for their university entrance exam. Hopefully, those entering the university will realize how helpful this course has really been in all their course work. Likewise, English as a second language is given to our fifth and sixth grade primary students with the same objective of giving them a head start on entering high school. Our high school will highlight availability of both languages for students seeking a bilingual fluency, which will enable them to take university courses in either language.

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