(L) HELP Executive Director Conor Bohan speaks to (l-r) David, Johanna, Lucas, and Monica Zwirner; (R) Ben Stiller and Endeavor’s Brian White with HELP staff.

In March 2013, HELP had the privilege of welcoming actor Ben Stiller and gallerist David Zwirner, co-founders of Artists for Haiti, to the HELP Student Center. Mr. Stiller, who visited with his brother-in-law and a family friend on March 15th, toured the Center, met with junior and senior students, and sat in on an English class. Mr. Zwirner visited on March 18th with his wife and children. The family received a tour of HELP’s facilities, observed a leadership class, and met several staff and students.

Students present ESL projects to their classmates

All HELP students participate in a three-year English as a Second Language (ESL) curriculum taught by native speakers. The program starts with an introduction to grammar, speaking, and writing, and progresses to an introduction to literature. In the final two years, ESL instruction is integrated with the leadership curriculum, which incorporates civic education and community service projects to train students to be engaged, active citizens.

Salomon at work

When he earned his electrician’s degree in 2002, Salomon Asmath became HELP’s first-ever graduate. After HELP, Salomon worked as a production engineer at an apparel factory in Port-au-Prince. He then spent a year as an operations manager at a handicrafts company, followed by a year as a stock manager. In June 2008, Salomon became a data entry clerk for MINUSTAH’s police division, where he stayed for three years. Today, he is a manager at Energy Central, a solar panel installation company. Salomon lives in a suburb of Port-au-Prince with his wife and child.

For her January 10 article, Veronique Soule sat down with Michele-Ange (computer science, class of 2012) to learn about her inspiring journey from a financially difficult childhood to a soon-to-be university graduate. You can see the full article (in French) here.

In her January 10 article, journalist Nathalie Brafman discusses the state of higher education in Haiti in the continuing wake of the 2012 earthquake. Nathalie spoke to Conor Bohan and Michael-Ange Dagrain (computer science, class of 2012) for their reflections on the difficulties and opportunities of pursuing a university degree. Check out the full article (in French) here.

Since Daphnée Charles (agro-economics ‘12) and Ronel Lefranc (agro-environment ‘13) journeyed to Dartmouth College in the wake of the January 2010 earthquake, HELP has seen the significant impact that studying abroad has on our students. Dartmouth has accepted HELP students every summer since 2010, and this year a HELP student participated in a new summer program at Cornell University, made possible by the Ming Tian Fund for Haiti’s Tomorrow. So, as winter comes hurtling towards us and we look back with fondness on the summer that was, we thought we’d share the exciting experiences of three of our students who studied abroad this past summer.

In September, HELP opened its doors to 44 eager freshmen with the usual “first day of school” jitters. This generation of students has never known either a prosperous Haiti or the terror of the Tontons Macoutes. They grew up with a different normal, marked by political instability and natural disasters; coups, takeovers, and fraught elections seemed to alternate with hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes. These interruptions have long-term impacts: a whole season of crops fail, schools close indefinitely, and families are forced to move and separate. We believe that this only makes our students’ achievements all the more impressive, and we are pleased to introduce several members of the freshman class of 2012-2013.