Father Pat and Miriam Vazquez, one of TLAU’s first college graduates, on her graduation day

Father Pat Keane traveled to El Salvador July 23 through August 2 to visit with the becados (scholarship recipients) and to attend the college graduation of Mirian Elizabeth Clavel Vasquez, a scholarship recipient and one of our first students to graduate from college.  She received her degree in Primary Education and hopes to teach soon at an elementary level.

Father’s meeting with the becados marked the beginning of a new tradition for The Least Among Us. At a special ceremony, each student was presented with a document written by The Least Among Us outlining the foundation’s approach to scholarships.  Each student was given a day to think and pray about the letter before signing it and listing the ways they planned to help their community after they graduate.  To paraphrase the letter (I plan a full post with a translation at a later date), scholarships are not awarded for mere material advancement of the individual, but as a crucial element of our mission to fight poverty and renew the culture from the inside out.  Therefore each student is expected not only to complete their education, but to spend their lives, even after graduation, making continued financial or non-financial contributions to their community. Father Keane emphasized the importance of helping others with their time, talent, and treasure, participating in activities such as weekly tutoring for struggling students.

Our next graduate will be Jorge Perez who successfully defended his thesis during Fr. Pat’s visit and will be receiving his Licenciatura on December 5th of this year.  Jorge has been in our scholarship program for the past eight years and is an alumnus of TLAU’s very first school in Santo Domingo de Guzman.  Born into a very poor family, Jorge entered first grade at the age of 13 and has shown remarkable perseverance in that he had to walk 45 minutes each way to go to school up until 9th grade.  He attended high school as a TLAU becado in Sonsonate and has been studying at the University in Sonsonate for the past 5 years.  At the age of 30 he will finally receive his college degree making him the first in his family to attain the unthinkable.   Fr. Pat plans to return to El Salvador in December for Jorge’s graduation and to celebrate Jorge’s wedding the following day.

The rest of the becados are doing very well as is Madeline Sanchez who received life saving open heart surgery through designated donations to TLAU.

TLAU scholarship recipients think and pray before signing TLAU’s mission promise.