Former Partners in Education Haiti scholarship recipient, Christelle Pierre, joins the PieH team as a news correspondent. Pierre will focus on providing information about current students and project updates.
Pierre was among the first PieH scholarship recipients in 2012. Sixty-seven percent of Haitian children attend primary school. Of those students, 49 percent continue through the third grade, and of those, only 21 percent participate in high school. Graduating in 2017, Pierre became part of the small percentage of Haitians who complete high school. The decline in school attendance is directly related to their ability to pay.
Because of a generous donor, Pierre was able to attend a two-year professional “Information” school, graduating in 2019. After earning a certificate, Pierre volunteered as an intern at a local radio station.
Because many schools do not have funds to hold a graduation ceremony, PieH has a special ceremony each year.
A U.S. team typically travels to Haiti twice a year to visit with students, their families, and school administrators. Because of travel restrictions, a team is unable to visit this year. Program Assistant Edome Orvilous continues to provide regular updates about the students, their families, the schools, and the political situation. We are hopeful that Pierre will enhance the reports with human-interest stories about some of the students.
Christelle interviewing new PieH scholarship recipient Naika
We are excited to have Pierre as part of the team and look forward to future stories written by her. The stories will be translated from French to English and posted on this blog.