Tyne Met is a medium-sized college which recruits students from predominantly low-income families and where very few students go to university. Student’s who participated in this trip to Mexico, are currently studying health and social care, sport, childcare and travel courses. These are all sectors which require students to gain many different experiences to help boost their employability.
Our community project in Playa del Carmen, Mexico focuses on education and special needs care and therapy. You can read more about it and the work that we do on our project page, Provide a safe environment for children in Mexico.
The students had to fundraise for a portion of their trip and funds from the National Scholarship Program, UK were used to sponsor a portion of each students’ trip.
Here are some of their testimonials. They had a great time by the sounds of it.
Henry*
Why did you decide to go to Mexico?
I have always wanted to be given the chance to go abroad volunteering, so when this opportunity came I couldn’t wait to get involved. As I want to teach myself, I knew seeing how others managed to teach children with limited resources would be an amazing experience for me.
What did you learn from your experience overall?
I learnt that a lot of people take things for granted. Seeing how excited the children were to learn compared to some children here showed me how much is taken for granted. I know that I will use this experience throughout my teacher training as well as when I become a teacher. I hope to be able to do something like this again.
Cynthia*
What was the highlight of your trip?
Personally the highlight of the trip was getting involved with the children and communicating in other ways apart from vocal and 2 young children were always happy and with me talking and drawing with them they decided to draw me a picture.
Please provide a few words or a sentence that sum up your experience.
The trip has been overwhelming and a great experience. I would love to take part in a trip again in the future as it has opened my eyes of how other people live in the world.
Janet*
What did you learn from your experience overall?
I learnt that a lot of people take things for granted. Seeing how excited the children were to learn compared to some children here showed me how much is taken for granted. I know that I will use this experience throughout my teacher training as well as when I become a teacher. I hope to be able to do something like this again.
Opportunities like this are invaluable for students so that they can broaden their horizons, see the world and experience how people in different communities live and learn.
Thank you for your support. We know that the students really appreciate it!
