Belize Day Six

Our last full day here has come to a close, and it's definitely a bittersweet feeling. We are gonna miss these students way more than any of us could have anticipated at the beginning of the week. This morning we went to St. Peter's Primary School to teach some business topics to the students there. We were working with children between the ages of 11 and 14, so this establishment is similar to what we would call an elementary school. We decided to make our workshop interactive, and we've worked hard over the past several days putting poster boards together to help illustrate the concepts. The basic idea was that students went to work (the workplace station) and got their pay for the month. We gave them M&Ms for money so that they could have something to enjoy afterward. At the stations, we covered various topics such as budgeting, simple interests and loans, utility payments, and how to calculate sales tax and a tip at a restaurant. I was working at the Utilities station for the most part, and had some calculations for them so they could figure out what their monthly bills cost is and how many M&Ms they needed to give me:

 

We also worked with the special needs children there at the primary school. Recently they have been discussing the concepts of perseverance and diligence. We had a group brainstorming session and came up with the idea to illustrate these concepts using salmon. We explained to the students that salmon swim hundreds of miles upstream to have babies in the exact same place they were born in, so that they can raise a healthy and happy family. They were able to make their own fish from the supplies we brought, and I think this really helped solidify the ideas in their minds. 

Our trip to the primary school was so much fun! The children loved it, and I think they really caught on to what we were saying because of the interaction we provided. I wrote down my address for several of them, and they claim to be mailing me something soon for coming and helping them out at school. So awesome!

 After leaving the primary school, we headed over to ITVET for some final preparation before the students' big presentations. Before they presented in front of the Youth Business Trust Belize, we conducted a small awards ceremony and gave certificates to the students because of their participation in the program. Not only did this mean a lot to them, but it also helped calm their nerves before the presentation. They are competing for loans to start their own business, and all of their preparation this week has led up to this. Even though only 3 of the 8 groups will receive loans, all of them did amazing and far exceeded our expectations. The feedback we received from the business trust was: "Normally we have our loan applicants take a 6 week course covering business plan formulation and gathering financials. You guys did this in 3.5 days." We found out who the winners were, but it will be officially announced to the students tomorrow, so we weren't supposed to say anything really. It was so hard to keep this silence! To have something to remember the students by, I had them sign my ITVET bag:

After the presentations we said what we thought were our last goodbyes and headed to our farewell dinner. This event was held on some land that Mr. Orlando de la Fuente owns down by the river (he owns the hotel we are staying at as well). He plans to develop it soon, and for good reason, because it is absolutely beautiful out there. We had a great time eating barbecue and socializing around the campfire.

The highlight of the day by far was pulling back up to the hotel after dinner and seeing a handful of our ITVET students waiting outside for us. They were not ready to say bye. Talk about a flood of emotions. Saying goodbye was hard enough once! That is how we know we made a lasting impact on these students. There was no reason to meet us out there to say bye one last time. In fact, they didn't even know what time our dinner was supposed to be over, but they waited out there for us anyway. They also brought us gifts as gratitude for everything we have done for them this week. We walked down to the river bank and visited with our students until 2 in the morning. And the thing is, I don't think they have any idea how much that gesture meant to us. I cannot think of a better way we could have ended our service project here in Belize!

Belize Day Five

Today at breakfast we were joined by two business owners in Orange Walk. It was amazing to hear how much passion they have for what they do. After meeting several Belizian business owners on this trip, it has become clearer to me that life is too short to not do something that you love. At ITVET, we spent the day helping the students perfect their business plans and sales pitch for the Youth Business Trust. They will be presenting tomorrow, and three student groups will be receiving micro-loans to start their own business. Our group is amazed at the progress these students have made this week. Their business knowledge, writing skills, and presentation skills have increased exponentially. They are a bright group of students for sure, and i believe that in the future every single one of them will have a positive impact on Belize. We conducted a mock interview with each student as well. We acted as if we were in a real interview situation, and asked them questions that are likely to come up in a business setting. Afterward, we presented them with written feedback that they can use to improve their interview skills:

After lunch we had a panel discussion with several business professionals, both men and women, in the Orange Walk area. Again, it was so interesting to hear their vast experiences and backgrounds, and I believe that this information was particularly helpful to the ITVET students. 

What is perhaps the most amazing part of this trip so far is how close we have become to these students we are teaching, in such a short amount of time. After school, a handful of students agreed to take us fishing along the banks of the new river here in Orange Walk Town. Spending time with them outside of the classroom proved to us how amazing this bunch is. They have been great to us this week and I'm pretty sure we're going to miss them once we're back in Texas. While we were fishing they even taught us a little bit of the creole language they speak here. Tam and I were picking up pretty fast! That just goes to show that this week they have taught us just as much as we have taught them. Before we went our separate ways this evening, we took a group picture together. We asked them to display the only hand gesture we could think of at the time:

Tomorrow will be our last full day in Belize, so we're gonna try and make the most of it! We can't wait to hear the presentations tomorrow that the students have been working so hard on all week!

Belize Day Four

Busy day today! This morning we conducted a series of revision workshops with the students. In addition to helping them prepare their resumes, we also assisted them in drafting a business plan. Many of our students have aspirations to open their own businesses after graduation, and our program is preparing them for that step. The students will give presentations over their business models on Thursday, and The Belize Youth Business Trust will be evaluating them. The top 3 proposals will be receiving a grant to help fund their entrepreneurial vision.


After lunch we took a field trip with the students to a sugar factory here in Orange Walk. Sugar cane is one of the finest resources Belize has to offer, and this is evident in the fact that this factory is the largest business in all of Belize. we climbed to the top of one of the tanks, and were able to see the factory and the jungle below:

It was overall a really neat experience for all of us. After wrapping up business plans and financials with our ITVET students, we spent the evening at a local waterpark. They are normally closed on weeknights, but were generous enough to open the place up for us! We also had dinner there, and it was another excellent bonding experience for our team.

Tomorrow our group will be splitting into two teams: one group will help students prepare their actual presentations for the Youth Business Trust, and the other group will be conducting mock interviews, to give our students a real-life experience of what a job interview will be like. We plan to ask them common questions that could come up in an interview, and provide them with valuable feedback on their responses. Can't wait to get back to work tomorrow!

Belize Day Three

Day three is coming to a close, and I think I can safely speak for the rest of the group by saying this has been the most rewarding day yet. This morning we started what we came here for: to share our job skill and entrepreneurial knowledge with the students at ITVET in Orange Walk. Our jobs skills group was the first to present this morning. We started off with an icebreaker so that we could all get to know each other better. We required our 30 students to stand up, say their name and field of study, and one interesting fact about them. They were shy and slightly intimidated at first, but our group worked hard to ensure our pupils that we were students just like them. Our topics today included cover letters, resume writing, interview skills, dressing professionally, and thank you letters. In our resume portion of the workshop, we used a laptop and a projector and created a mock resume right in front of the students. We felt like using a real example and walking them through the creation process was the most effective way for them to learn. At the end of each topic, various members of our group would jump into the conversation and add personal experience and stories. For instance, in the discussion of cover letters, I gave the students real-life tips that have helped me secure jobs and internships. Here is a picture of our job skills team at work:

Hands down, our students are what made this the best day here so far. We presented a lot of dense information today, and touched some topics that many of them are unfamiliar with. And even though some of the information may have gone over their heads, these students never lost eye contact with us. They were engaged and excited the entire afternoon. That gesture proved to us that these students truly do appreciate the work we are doing here in this country, and it reinforced and strengthened the vision of this project for all of us. The entrepreneur group gave their introductory presentation after lunch, and also used interactive workshops to better engage with the students.

Everyone involved in this project did an outstanding job today! Before dinner we had a group meeting and shared our experiences of the day, and what our highs and lows have been so far for the week. Surprisingly, after only spending one full day with them, the thing people were most dissatisfied with was the fact that we wish we had more time with our students. That is what the McCombs Leadership Program is truly about. And that is why we believe this project will be successful. We are a group of students that are sacrificing a large part of our Spring Break, the last Spring Break many of us will ever have, and dedicating it to the education of citizens in a foreign country. And while yes, Belize is beautiful and we have some time to see what the country has to offer, this is not a tourist trip. We are business professionals representing not only the McCombs School of Business and The University of Texas, but we are a reflection of the Unites States to these students. That is why this project is such a huge honor for us, and why we are so excited about what is going on here this week!

FYI: There is a Facebook group for our Leadership Program that is being updated with a lot more pictures than I'm putting on here. Here is the link to that:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/group.php?gid=15690350174

Belize Day Two

Day two is in the books! Today was a great bonding day for our group. After having breakfast bright and early at 7 AM local time, we departed for our boat trip to the Mayan ruins. Our trip was along the New River here in Belize. During the ride, we saw many interesting trees, birds, and other animals. We couldn't swim in this water unfortunately, as it is infested with crocodiles. I managed to get a great picture of one of them:

Also, we had a monkey jump in our boat, which was an incredible experience! He walked right in like he owned the place. We fed him a banana for his troubles, and I got a snapshot of that as well:

After arriving at the city of Lamanai, we continued on our tour as the guide showed us several Mayan temples and explained the history behind them. We saw the Jaguar temple, which serves as the background for this very blog. We were allowed to climb the high temple, which is over 110 feet tall. From there, I had an excellent view of the surrounding area, including a nice view of the river behind me:

 

During our tour of the ruins we learned a lot about the archaeological history of the Mayans in the Belizian region. Upon completion of our tour, we headed back to the hotel to prepare to meet our students for the first time! Our teaching doesn't begin until tomorrow, but we used this evening to get to know our students a little bit before we start our workshops. We were given a tour of the facilities, and our excitement is growing for working at this institutions. Both the students and faculty seem genuinely thrilled that we are sharing our business skills and knowledge with them. We can't wait to get started tomorrow! 

Belize Day One

So we're here in Belize! Everything has gone smoothly so far today. Once we landed in Belize City, we took a bus ride of about an hour and a half to Orange Walk, where we will be teaching. Along the drive we were able to see a central area of the country and gained a clearer perspective of Belizian lifestyle.

We checked into our hotel around 3 PM local time, and proceeded to explore the city a little bit. The people here have been friendly so far, especially when they know that our main purpose here is to help improve the infrastructure of their economy. The food has been nothing short of amazing! Belizians take a lot of pride in their bananas, and for good reason too. I must have eaten at least 4 of them today. For dinner, we were served a homecooked meal. Beef stew served over red beans and rice is a Belizian specialty; there were no leftovers. To drink we had our choice of freshly made cantaloupe or watermelon juice.

After dinner, we split up into our two groups: job skills and entrepreneurship. We went over last minute details about what we will lecture this week, and how the information will be presented. For job skills, we our challenging ourselves to present the information in a fun, interactive way. We truly want our students to get something out of our teaching this week, and are putting in the extra work during our free time to ensure that we are successful. This group of McCombs students are starting to bond already, and we're all getting the feeling that this is going to be a great week!

Tomorrow morning we get started early with breakfast at 7. From there, we will be taking a boat tour down the river to the Lamanai ruins, where we will have lunch and spend the afternoon. I'll keep this blog updated as best I can, and don't worry, pictures are on the way!

Introduction and Purpose

So even though I would consider myself a "tech-savvy" kind of guy, this is my first ever experience blogging! We had our final pre-departure meeting today, and with the trip less than a week away, I'm starting to get excited! My goal is to use this blog to keep my friends and family updated while I am on this journey. Our internet access in Belize will be limited, but I will do my best to update this page daily. I would also like to keep a video diary of my experiences each day, and if that ends up happening I will post them on this site as well. In case you were wondering, the background of this page is an image of the Lamanai ruins in Belize. We will be visiting those sometime during the week we are there. Near the bottom of the page I've included two images. The one on the left is a map of Belize. We will be teaching in Orange Walk, which is located in the northern part of the country. On the right is a picture of one of the nicest hotels in the city, Hotel de la Fuente, where we will be staying. If you are unfamiliar with the purpose of this trip, allow me to explain...

My first year on campus, I was selected to be a part of the Leadership Program at the McCombs School of Business. This is a 4 year track that focuses on developing the leadership ability of its students individually, in a team setting, and in both the local and global community. Students in their final year of the program participate in an international service project. This Spring Break (March 12-18 specifically) I will travel with a select group of students to the country of Belize to share my acquired business skills abroad. Colleges in Belize are sufficient in preparing their students to become electricians, plumbers, mechanics, etc. Although these trade skills are important in a developing nation, colleges such as ITVET (where we will be teaching) have traditionally not equipped their students with the necessary job skills and business knowledge needed to become successful entrepreneurs. However, these skills are vital to the survival of the Belizean economy, as many students have desires to start their own business after graduation.

Over the course of our week in Belize, we will engage with the ITVET students on two essential topics: job skills and entrepreneurship. Our job skills workshop will focus on areas such as interview skills, résumé writing, professional dress, and cover letters. We will also conduct mock interviews, giving our students necessary real-world experience. The entrepreneurship class will provide insights into starting a business, such as how to obtain funding, the importance of budgeting and forecasting, and how to manage resources in a successful enterprise. In addition, I am one of four students to be assigned “Project Champion.” As champions, we are responsible for developing the curriculum we will teach, as well as create any packets or handouts we will distribute to the class. Our team has been diligently preparing for this service opportunity for months, because even though we are sharing our knowledge with one group of students, the potential impact we could have on that country is profound.