Back Home and Catching Up: Seeing Our High School Students

Blogging while we were in Belize was a challenge, since it involves simultaneous access to the time, a computer, the Blogger interface, and photos that may have been taken by anyone on the team. So we're catching up with a few additional posts from home.

This post involves something we especially enjoy doing each year: visiting with "our" students, the Holy Cross graduates whom we have supported through high school and beyond. We already introduced you to Leticia, our current St. Luke's high school student, in the post from February 6 / Day 4. But Leticia is just one of six Holy Cross graduates with ties to St. Luke's.

Isolene

Jan formally sponsored Isolene through high school, and helped her through university after that. We didn't get a chance to see Isolene on this trip, because she has graduated from the University of Belize and taken a job in ... Richmond, VA! Now that we're back, Jan is working to arrange for Isolene to come to Durham on Amtrak. So some weekend before too long we should have a chance to welcome Isolene to St. Luke's in person.

Arianie

Bob and his wife Mary Jane were Arianie's formal sponsors through high school. With other folks from St. Luke's, they continue to support her as she studies at the University of Belize, Belmopan. Arianie came out to Ambergris Caye for the weekend to see us. Together with her brother Nathaniel (currently in his second year of high school on the island), Arianie spent parts of three days catching us up on her progress at the university. She is in the second semester of a four-year program that leads to a nursing degree. After she completes that program, she will decide on her best option for going further in the medical field.

Ashanti

Ashanti's formal sponsors were two families from previous St. Luke's teams, the Atwells and Chapmans. Our recent visits with Ashanti have expanded to include a medical side as well, since Dr. Jim keeps up with some health issues for Ashanti's baby Melanie. Everyone on our team was taken with Melanie as she visited with Jim.

Valdimir

Valdimir was the first Holy Cross graduate sponsored through high school by St. Luke's itself. We tried for most of our week on Ambergris Caye to connect with him, but we never succeeded. After we got back to Durham, however, Jan was able to contact him electronically and determine that he is doing well. We'll try for an in-person meetup with Valdimir again next year.

Kevin

Kevin was also sponsored by St. Luke's, using donations that we raise each December at the Alternative Gift Fair. After graduating from high school last June, Kevin has been working at a water and soft drink bottling plant on Ambergris Caye. We were all struck by the obvious effect on his physique of lifting all of those heavy water bottles. In addition to full-time work during the day, Kevin is also enrolled in a program of evening classes at the high school leading to a junior college degree. He's not quite sure what he wants to do once he finishes that program - but starting his own business is one of the options he's considering.