HELP Me Code is a club open to all HELP students interested in computer programming. Laura Dardignac, ESL Instructor, sat down with co-founder Auguste Jacquet (Business ‘16) and two club students, Adler Barreau, (Industrial Engineering ‘19) and Jean Marcelin Beaubrun (Computer Science ‘18) to find out more about this student initiative.

“We’re in danger…now is the time to act,” the music urges as the camera swiftly pans above the russet mountains and dense verdure of the Kenscoff mountains, in a vibrant reminder of all that could be lost.Led by Daphnée Charles (Agro-Economics 2012), Program Officer with Panos Caribbean, the “Nou An Danje” (We are in Danger) video launched in November as a public service announcement meant to inspire citizens and political leaders to take urgent measures to adapt to climate change, slow environmental degradation, and preserve the country’s biodiversity.

Having the fortune to be raised by a single-mother who emphasized the importance of education, Nephtaly Pierre-Louis (Economics 2017) seized every educational opportunity that came his way. In primary and secondary school he excelled in all his classes, allowing him to attend the best schools in his home city of Jérémie on Haiti’s south-western peninsula. But it was not until he was accepted to HELP and began the leadership class that he was able to fully appreciate the values of civic responsibility and social entrepreneurship and their potential to transform his country.“Young people need to be made aware of how to engage with their community and the world of work,” he says.” We currently lack the framework to develop our potential and are too much like robots. We should be striving to be job creators not just job seekers.” This interest in policy has lead Nephtaly to seek opportunities to precipitate change amongst his peers.

This year, HELP identified our recruitment drive as a priority and developed a new strategy for the January - March recruitment period. Over the course of 12 weeks, student-led teams visited over 1,000 schools across the country and spoke directly to more than 160,000 secondary school students, even reaching those in remote areas like the islands of La Tortue and La Gonave. “We put in a strong effort this year, and the results speak for themselves,” says Recruiting Intern Landy Sabrina CYPRIEN (agronomy ’15). “Some notable differences from past years include the assignment of team leaders for each department and the increased availability of vehicles and materials for each team. These changes allowed for better productivity and time management.” HELP's outreach was expanded even further by our student media teams, which appeared on more than 50 regional and national radio stations, and by our partners at Digicel, who sent a nationwide text blast with admissions information to 2,000,000 subscribers!