USC program helps educate children in Belize
Upper St. Clair and St. John’s students take a break from studies.
A classroom at St. John’s Anglican School in Placencia, Belize
If Americans know much of anything about the Central American nation of Belize, it might be from something like watching “Beachfront Bargain Hunt” on HGTV.
“Dave and Laura are from Cleveland,” the synopsis of one episode states. “They love Belize and feel like this is the perfect time to make the move. They hope to find the perfect beachfront property for only $350,000.”
Certainly, the atmosphere in Placencia, the village along the Caribbean Sea where the Cleveland couple were looking, can be idyllic.
That’s what Peters Township residents Jim and Rebecca Berquist thought the first time they visited, in 2000. And that’s what “The Godfather” director Francis Ford Coppola must have thought when he invested in a local resort, the Turtle Inn.
“We thought, well, if he’s down in Placencia, that has to be the jewel,” Rebecca recalled, and they subsequently started making their own real estate investments there.
“Jim and I have always tried to do some community service wherever we’ve been,” she said. “And across from one of our properties, there’s a little school called St. John’s Anglican School.”
St. John’s represents a side of Belize that HGTV viewers and Turtle Inn guests don’t see. The former British Honduras has a per capita annual income of about $4,900, according to the World Bank, and the state of education is hardly on par with what the Berquists are used to seeing.
“The schools are concrete, with no air conditioning,” Rebecca said. “The teachers have to make their own teaching tools. A teacher is not paid well, at all. You make more money being a bartender or server. And education is only mandatory to eighth grade.”
St. John’s website elucidates further.
“Some children are unable to attend school because they don’t have shoes to wear, uniform or school supplies. This is not a rule which school imposes, rather something which parents (and children) see as a barrier.”
And so the Berquists made the acquaintance of St. John’s principal, Stephen Whyte, and asked if they could help in any manner.
The result has been a leadership program involving Upper St. Clair School District, where Rebecca is accounting manager and treasurer. Each June for the past five years, groups of select high school students and teachers have traveled to Placencia for a week of presenting lessons and activities for the youngsters at St. John’s.
“The students have all been very impressed with it,” Rebecca observed. “The children down there are so excited to be able to learn. A lot of kids in, say, Peters and Upper St. Clair take it for granted that this is the type of education that is afforded to you. And it was very impactful for them.”
There is no cost to the school district.
“The students are funding the air fare. We’re providing the housing,” Rebecca explained, with the Berquists donating accommodations at the nearby Mirasol Villa.
Three to five teachers accompany the group, which generally includes up to seven students who have completed three years of the Upper St. Clair High School Leadership Academy.
“The students do a lot of prep work before they come down, and the teachers try to really let them run the classroom. The educational level that Upper St. Clair students receive – this is my personal opinion – is equivalent, if not superior, to the education a teacher might receive,” Rebecca said about the system in Belize. “The first year they were going down, I said to them, ‘You have nothing to worry about, because they can’t provide that level.'”
As such, she complimented the students’ leadership skills displayed at St. John’s:
“They’re good role models for teaching the children that making good choices could be a positive influence in their lives, in very, very difficult circumstances, where they’re hungry and they might not have a complete family unit, or anybody to see them off to school.”