Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Hello Volunteers, Supporters, & Followers! 

We have to announce (although late) that we have shut down the English immersion pre-school and other English education activities that took place in the house on the street 12 de Julio in Puerto Plata. We still have the scholarship program with three students on scholarship. We created this English immersion education program in order to more practically engage foreign volunteers and also to respond to the requests of the general Puerto Plata community who had asked for English lessons from native English speakers throughout the years.

The decision to shut down was based on the lack of local registrations and the high costs of the building we were renting. If we have the opportunity to start this program up again in the future, we will do so in a different part of town with a different approach, and building on top of relationships we have formed and lessons learned throughout this effort. Thank you to those of you who have sponsored a camper, a pre-school student, volunteered, or taught. It has been a blast and hopefully we can start it up again someday! In the meantime, we'll continue with the scholarships. If anyone takes special interest in the English immersion pre-school and would like to dedicate resources toward a wiser and stronger re-start, please write to us at cambia.mis.estrellas@gmail.com.

I never did post the family photo of the boy who was sponsored to go to pre-school. Although the school year ended early for him, he learned and grew so much during the months he attended pre-school! Here is Pedro (Alamson) Toussaint and his mother Etienne.

Lastly, a special thank you to Julienne, Hannah, and Mary Ellen who came and taught in the pre-school this year, as well as Nicole who volunteered with the club, and of course everyone who helped out wtih the summer camp! We will do the English camp this summer but in the grassroots school in Padre Granero. We'll continue to post about scholarships.

Pre-School Set to Launch Fall 2012

This update is a bit late, but better late than never. It is important that we explain what happened with the English immersion pre-school that has caused it to not launch this year, fall of 2011, but for us to plan on launching it fall 2012.


This was Change My Stars first year in existence, beginning with the English immersion camp in July, which went quite well. During the second half of the month of June, we just began renting the building and preparing it for the camp. Therefore, our program did not have a strong presence in the community. We were successful in getting kids out to camp, but really this year was low key as everything was just getting started. The campers who attended and the counselors who volunteered all had a great time and have gone on to tell friends and family about their experience, which will undoubtedly cause more interest in the camp next year. 


We made a strong effort to get the pre-school off the ground. We did the best that we could. But in reality, we just didn't start early enough and our program was not well-known enough. We were even last minute with teacher committments and such. We now realize that for a parent to send their child to an English camp is a bit more simple than deciding which pre-school to send their child to. Pre-school is a year long commitment and the parent wants to trust the program. Therefore, we have worked hard to maintain activity in the same building throughout the year, turning it into a volunteer and visitor hostel that has many things going on, English education and mini camps throughout the year being one of them. We will also start reaching out to parents well into the previous school year and accepting registrations, as we realize many parents are already researching for the following school year at that time.


Please stay tuned to see the progress!