Scholars for Schools by Kendra Kimlinger

Posted by Mike Balster 
 

     Sandy Nichols introduced Kendra Kimlinger president of the Arroyo Grande Rotary Club who is a participant in the matching grant program with Valparaiso Chile for the Scholars for Schools program.

     The program was started by Ambassadorial Scholars in Chile recognizing the lack of books for school children to complete their education. Local students are given a summer reading list consisting of 12 books but since few families can afford the books they buy one or two books and share them between students. The result was students were able to read only two or three books during the summer. The school previously had no library and in fact no public schools in Valparaiso have a library nor are there public libraries.
 

During an interview one of the Scholars stated that she had been teaching in the school for six weeks and hadn't seen a single text book. The local government is unable to fund money for text books or libraries. Books are very expensive to print in Chile and the VAT for imported books is 20% and still getting the books to their intended destination is very problematic.

     The Scholars created a program called Scholars for Kids which targeted a local school in Chile and converted an unused room into a school library. After identifying an unused room in the school then removed the furniture, repaired and painted the room in intriguing colors, built book shelves and a computer station, purchased and stocked the library, and trained the staff in utilizing the new library.

     The local economy is poor and the schools are in disrepair so the Scholars had to use their own money and money from their local sources in the US. With donations and an enormous amount of work by the Scholars, the first library was completed for about $8,000. The Scholars developed a sustainable program based on their research and experience in establishing the first public school library. The next school has been targeted and the costs are estimated at $12,000 to complete the library in that school.

     In 1986 Literacy was the focus for Rotary and since literacy has been an important cornerstone of Rotary. The program started as an idea posed by the Scholars to work with local schools and it morphed with research into Scholars for Schools, a sustainable program to build libraries for public schools.

     At the conclusion of the presentation several members donated to the program to keep it viable until the matching grant funding arrives.