FUTURE GOALS (2004/5):

Our priorities are: 

• To make sure we have the funds to assist the students with their school expenses.
• To make sure we have the funds to meet the monthly supplementary expenses of the high school.
• To make sure we have the funds to operate and maintain the dormitory.
• To seek donations of equipment and materials such as furniture, bedding and housekeeping needs, paint, lights, etc. to finish the dormitory.
• To seek funding for a Library/Study Hall/Computer Center at the site of the Dormitory.
• To seek government assistance in providing electricity for the dormitory and the community.
• To seek support to provide direct Internet access to the Library/Study Hall/Computer Center.

Both electric power lines and a fiber-optic telephone cable pass within 0.5 km of the site.  The Dormitory is forced for the present to rely on a mixture of solar panels, batteries and inverter supplemented with a gasoline generator for electricity. The need is to receive a priority from the Federal Commission on Electricity for service from the grid so as to have ample power for lights, refrigeration, the computer center, and for the communities of Ligüí and Ensenada Blanca. In this we need help from TelMex (Telefonos de Mexico) for high-speed Internet access, or we need to access the Internet via satellite.

OVERALL GOALS :

The decline in fishing and ranching means that new skills will be needed for the families to supplement or replace their current income.  AsistED recognizes the need for vocational training programs other than high school and college for the adults and young people who have no desire for more formal education.  To that end we plan to work with the state to develop a shop/classroom and the capability to offer special courses in: 

Tourist based activities:

• Sport fishing guide

• Ecotourism interpretive guides for trips on foot/ horseback and boat

• Kayaking instructor guide

• SCUBA instructor guide

Other trades:

• Carpentry

• Masonry

• Mechanics: auto, outboard motor and small motors

• Commercial Sewing

• Commercial Baking

• Jewelry making

• Truck and greenhouse farming to supply vegetable to the local resorts.

 

We have a pledge of partial funding for the Library/Computer Center, and that will provide a training center for some activities until a workshop area can be completed.  This building would provide a study area where all the students could study in the afternoon and evening and have library materials available. At present the students have nothing except their work books for reference materials.

We anticipated starting a student-operated live-bait vending program beginning this fall as a work/study program for students who have to help support their families.  The bait will be caught by the older students in the late afternoon and night, and maintained and tended by other students in floating receivers.  Sales will take place in the early morning prior to the start of school making this a practical project for student employment. However, with the tragic fire that destroyed Tripui Trailer Park in July, the customer base is much reduced and the project is on hold.

 

We also want to develop projects to teach greenhouse vegetable growing, naturalist tour guides and other tourist related activities such as kayak and mule/horseback guides, to develop a student run live bait project at Puerto Escondido, and to provide on-the-job training of technicians for computers, aquaculture, and for fishery and terrestrial biology.