Two years ago, during summer of 2016, I had the great opportunity of participating in the Stanford Executive Program (SEP), made possible by the scholarship I was granted from the SEP Foundation Scholarship Alumni.
Going to Stanford, taking classes with incredible teachers, forming part of the SEP networking, listening and learning from my peers’ experiences, and making friendships were part of an experience that marked me for life.
I went to SEP to learn techniques on how to direct and create a greater reach within my organization, Formando Emprendedores ABP. More particularly, my goal was to learn how to impart the program Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s on a national level.
The Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s program has had a 100% increment in the number of beneficiaries reached this school year. We were able to educate more than 9,500 students during the 2016-2017 school-year cycle in Nuevo León. We also have two new alliances with institutions in other states, allowing the program to be imparted outside of Nuevo León.
A year ago, during an exercise organized by my SEP2016 peers, I presented a pitch on an idea to create a program for Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s’ parents. The idea consists of teaching parents the concepts of citizen participation and Culture of Lawfulness, with the purpose of creating a greater impact on their children’s education. That same day, my peers decided to support my idea with economic resources for the program’s prototype and design.
The Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s program for parents is finally a reality! On June 29th of 2017, we imparted our first program for the parents whose children took the Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s program in the Hidelbrando Sepúlveda public school in the municipality of García, Nuevo León. 60 parents attended. The Program for Parents now officially forms part of Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s. From now on, each school we work with will also receive the Program for Parents, made possible by the support of the 2016 SEPers.
I remember conversing with Eduardo Herique a year ago, during lunch break between classes. He said, “I want to support your organization throughout one of my business’s projects. It would be a win-win situation”. Today, we have created an alliance between the Brazilian enterprise Movile, under its business unit Playkids, and Formando Emprendedores, a Mexican NGO, under the Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s program.
Thanks to Eduardo and his great team of collaborators, we have received support on creating Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s videos with educative content for the Playkids platform. The videos will be available in Spanish, English and Portuguese.
Words say a lot, but images and beneficiaries’ testimonies say much more. I have invited Pequeñ@s Ciudadan@s’ parents to accompany me to say thank you to the SEP Alumni Scholarship , 2015 SEPers, and 2016 SEPers. THANK YOU.
This is just after the first year since my participation in SEP. We are working to change the world.