Featured HELP Student: Indieu JULES
Third-year computer science student Indieu Jules says he was very nervous the first time he stood in front of a group of high school students on a HELP recruiting visit. But after watching a more experienced HELP student make her presentation, he quickly shed his shyness and went on to share his own story. Today, as a senior member of the HELP recruitment team, Indieu is now showing other recruiters how it is done.
Indieu is from Saint Marc, a coastal city 50 miles north of Port-au-Prince. A top-performing student in high school, he began substituting for his geometry teacher and discovered that he had a knack for teaching. Indieu would like to return to Saint Marc when his studies are complete, and one day hopes to start a computer training school, strengthening the educational opportunities in one of the worst-performing secondary school districts in Haiti. (Read Indieu’s full student profile here.)
HELP’s annual recruitment effort has two main goals: to tell as many students as possible about HELP, and to instill in them the importance of studying hard and completing their education. The recruitment effort was originally conducted by Country Director Garry Delice, but the baton has been passed to HELP students themselves, who now organize and lead the annual nationwide drive. This past spring, the team visited 288 schools in 55 communes around Haiti, and spoke to nearly 95,000 secondary school students. Indieu has witnessed firsthand how the students are impressed and inspired by the personal stories of HELP students who “come from the same place and share the same experiences.”
In his own presentation, Indieu stresses that “you cannot be what you and your parents want you to be if you don’t get an education.” He goes on to describe the extensive package of goods and services that a HELP scholarship offers, and the ways in which a university education can have a positive impact not only on the students’ own lives but their families’ as well. “I can see in their eyes that they want to make the effort to have the same opportunity,” Indieu says.
When asked what he hopes to accomplish as a result of the recruiting visits, Indieu says he would like to see some of the students he meets around the country at HELP in the future. We very much hope so, too!
If you are interested in learning more about sponsoring a HELP student or making a gift to HELP, please contact us at info@uhelp.net or call +1-646-485-8667.