Building New School Classrooms for Las Conchitas

In January, nineteen IT professionals from the District of Columbia area were warmly welcomed by Las Conchitas community in Masaya as they began working together to construct two critically needed classrooms serving the children of six surrounding communities. The volunteers had made a commitment to not only to raise money for the school but also to travel to Nicaragua and physically start building it. Another group will complete it in February.

Only a few years ago, there was no high school in the communities around Las Conchitas. Those adolescents who were extremely motivated to continue their education had to make a long journey by foot, crossing a dangerous highway and catching a bus to the nearest high school in Masaya. The trip would take hours each way, assuming that the family had the money to spend on transportation, books and food. Not surprisingly, many of these young people dropped out of school early in their education.

However, due to the demand for a local high school, the community decided to split the sessions at the existing Las Conchitas elementary school into use as a primary school in the mornings and high school in the afternoons. The school currently serves 340 primary students and 305 high school students from six area communities. The enrollment at the educational facility increases every year with the space severely limited and overcrowded. A new classroom building was essential.

The DC IT group, organized by Leslie Barry,VP, Government Affairs & Business Development, GTSI, raised most of the funds for the school building through their annual “Raise the Roof” fundraiser as well as from corporate donations. The sponsors include: GTSI, Bronze Star, EMC2, Evolver, Top of the Town, Netapp, Microtech, Avaya Government Solutions, ByLight, Blue Ridge Information Systems, Karsun Solutions, Cisco, Censeo Consulting and Ambit Group. Many thanks go to all of the DC IT professionals and contributors who made this dream a reality.