The award ceremony took place on July 15, at Fundehumac’s mentoring center.  At this event, Christina Vergara-Andrews was welcomed as the new president of the Magdalena Foundation, Inc.  Last year, Haroldo L. Suarez, who was MFI’s president for 17 years, stepped down.  This brings a younger generation to the board. Mr. Suarez will remain as a board member with the purpose to provide a smooth transition.

As mentioned in the January report, Sindy Paola Barrera and Vanesa Jimenez graduated as pre-school teachers in March. Angeline and Thelmaris Castro obtained their diplomas in Education and Civil Engineering and Elvira Bermudez obtained her diploma in pre-school.  This brings a total of five students who leave the program.

MFI welcomed three new students:  Rosa Isela Merino will continue her sixth semester in Hotel Administration and Tourism, Jose Caro will start the second semester of Systems Engineering.  Nelsy Nunez will begin the first semester of Fashion Design.  Jeison Duran Barbosa was supposed to begin the sixth semester of Civil Engineering but he was offered a job in Bogota for six months.  He could not pass this opportunity because he thought he had to abandon his studies for lack of resources.  His scholarship will be saved until he returns to Santa Marta.  He had worked with Fundehumac’s mentoring program and his work was impressive. 

An unpleasant experience with four other students who engaged in unacceptable conduct forced a disciplinary measure.  These students were discontinued from the program.  Anuar Sepulveda and Betsy Machuca were both in their first semester.  Raul Granados was in the third semester of Systems Engineering and Aldo Mejia was in the seventh semester of economics.  This had a big impact on the program which will continue with twelve students.  This unprecedented event provided an opportunity for the program to be evaluated and strengthened.

The ceremony was nice and girls of Paso a Paso danced two dances choreographed by Sindy Barrera, their mentor and who is now working as a pre-school teacher.