Francisco Gonzalez Bocanegra Elementary School

My name is Coe Michaelson, and I coach men's soccer at California Baptist University in Riverside, CA. My work regularly takes me out of the country. On one recent occasion, Josh Glover, one of our CBU Men's Soccer assistant coaches, and I had the opportunity to meet Brenda Rocio Rodriguez Guerrero. Brenda led us on a visit to the elementary school where she is the newly hired directora (principal) at Escuela Primaria “Francisco Gonzalez Bocanegra.” The school is located in a small village, Colonia Articulo Constitucional 115, on the shoulder of the road about 45 minutes to the northeast of Ensenada, in the Valley de Guadalupe. Brenda explained to us that most of the people in this village work in the fields of the local wineries, which is the primary business in this area of Mexico. While we could see wineries that appeared lush and beautiful up and down the valley from the school grounds, the realities of this village were quite different.

Brenda is the key person in all of this, and we want to help her. She is on a mission. She previously was a principal at a school in Tijuana and then another to the south of Ensenada. Her previous schools were much bigger and had significantly more funding. She hopes to one day become what we would call a district superintendent. But, before then, she first wants to transform not only this school but also this village. At this school, there are 120 students, grades 1-6. They have two functioning toilets, no computers, no air conditioning, and a $1,500 annual budget. The weather there is similar to other inland areas of Southern California, with 100+ degree days. The students regularly sit in the classrooms with wet towels over their heads to cool themselves off. Brenda herself sits at a picnic table under a tree for her office, a far cry from her last school post. We could do so many things to help this school, but in speaking with Brenda, the priority is to put air conditioning into each of the six classrooms. We can do that for roughly $3,500, and we hope to help them do this immediately, as school started last week.

After this is done, we would like to build a small shed for storage, allowing them to get a third toilet up and running, as the third stall on the school site currently houses many supplies. We also hope to get at least six laptops into the school – one for each teacher/classroom. We have already had one donated, and this is a way you could also help. We can also provide backpacks, paper, pens, pencils, and other general supplies. These are all realistic short-term goals, but there is more we hope to do.

As we were leaving, we bought bottled water across the street from the school at the town’s only small convenience store. The store was staffed for the day by an 11-year-old girl heading into 6th grade who attends the school. According to Brenda, the girl’s grandmother is a village matriarch, but she was out for the day with the young girl's parents. It struck me that the girl is the same age as my son, Isaac, and she is running the store for the day while her parents and grandmother are out. The girl’s mother coaches the only organized activity in the village, a youth girl's volleyball team. Brenda hopes to add more sports and other civic activities for children in the village. There are events the kids could participate in if they had the support we hope to provide. The volleyball team practices at the school, but they don’t have a net or uniforms. Through our connections, we hope to get uniforms for volleyball, soccer, basketball, and more. We would also love to get them other equipment for these sports...new nets, rims, balls, etc.

Eventually, after our fall season is over, we want to gather help to build a small schoolhouse that could house a principal’s office/staff room and perhaps a small computer lab for online learning. They do have access to the internet at the school, but they lack the funding to do anything with that access or actually make use of it. Computers are obviously key to that! That’s our idea, at least. Ultimately, Brenda will determine the priorities. Our primary goal is to support her in whatever way she asks to best help transform this school and this community. I believe we can achieve most of these goals with $10,000, or perhaps a bit more. But, whatever we raise will go into this school, and if it’s more, then great! Again, the first $3,500 will go directly to six new air conditioning units. Those kids are already sweating their way through stifling school days in this heat wave, so that is mission #1.

In addition to giving money of my own, through this process, I will personally manage all aspects of the finances and ensure that every dollar given by you, our family and friends, gets to these kids in this village. This will include numerous trips down by Josh, me, and others, and we will provide pictures of what we are able to do to everyone who gives along the way.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a foundation, and the school is outside the U.S., so to my knowledge, it isn’t tax deductible. Josh and I were just so struck by the situation when we visited that we felt compelled to try and help. This is an amazing opportunity to help impact an entire community through this one school. There is so much potential to help them, but this is an easy way to start, and we hope you can join us.

Thank you for your consideration and help!