Shining Light Abroad Ministries

“You need to hit it out of the park with the first graduating class.”

Those were the words spoken to me years ago. They have replayed in my mind ever since.

No pressure at all.

A few years later, I sat down with the director of an elite school in Guatemala and asked a simple question:

“Do you think it’s important for our students to be bilingual?”

Without hesitation, she replied, “Not for the children from your community.”

Those words lit a fire in me. I knew exactly what she was insinuating.

Every year, 12th-grade students complete a standardized computer-based assessment in reading and math. Similar to standardized testing used to evaluate schools in the United States, the results are public and are often used as a measure of a school’s academic quality.

Our first graduating class entered Colegio JET in the 7th grade.

Within the first few months, we administered a standardized Math Assessment Program (MAP) test to establish a baseline. The results were sobering. One student tested at a fifth-grade math level. The other sixteen students tested at a third-grade level or below.

Then came the pandemic.

Overnight, we transitioned from a traditional classroom environment to a community-style school model. The question constantly echoed in my mind:

How are we supposed to close the gap now?

It felt impossible.

Last Friday, our director, Julio, came running through the school looking for me.

“The results are in!”

His humongous smile said it all.

100% Proficient in Reading.

100% Proficient in Math.

There is absolutely no way.

I immediately played devil’s advocate. Maybe the test wasn’t that difficult. Maybe everyone was scoring well.

But they assured me the assessment was rigorous.

Since the scores are public information, we began comparing results from every school throughout the Chimaltenango area.

The most expensive schools.

The most reputable schools.

The schools with the biggest social media presence.

And there we stood. Proud.

As I looked at the results, the faces of our students flashed through my mind.

The students who studied full-time while working part-time to help support their families.

The students who didn’t have computers or reliable internet at home.

The students who grew up without electricity or running water.

The students who believed a high school diploma was only a dream.

The parents who trusted us with their children’s education.

These were the students behind those scores.

And now they had outperformed almost every other school in our area. (Only two other schools performed as well as Colegio JET.)

While the scores are impressive, the real victory isn’t found in a percentage.

The real victory is watching young people prove that their circumstances do not determine their potential.

The real victory is watching them accomplish what others assumed they never could.

The many, many prayers.

The hours of hard work.

The perseverance.

And I couldn’t help but think back to those words:

“Not for the children from your community.”

To God Be the Glory!