February is the month for celebrating love. We often see gifts of flowers, candy hearts and chocolate roses. But gifts of love come in all different forms.
We see love when a volunteer sits on the couch to read with the kids. We see love in the gift from each donor. We see love when a tutor helps with homework. We see love when a staff member hugs each of the kids before they head off to school. And we see love when the kids say goodbye to the dog before they leave for their basketball game.
Love is a powerful force, one that drives great things to happen. The love of each volunteer, donor and staff member of El Ranchito gives us the power to provide a safe, loving and stable home for our children. Together, we are doing great things.
“Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love.”
― Mother Teresa
Education is one of El Ranchito’s utmost values and we hold it as one of our top three priorities, along with teaching our children about God and instilling self-worth. By giving our children the best education possible, we give them a foundation upon which to build their future. An education is a priceless gift that no one can take away.
It is our responsibility to find the academic strengths and weaknesses of each child and develop a plan for them. We focus on giving them individual attention and support to achieve their goals. With this support, we hope to motivate the child to higher academic performance. Providing one on one attention, tutoring and private-school education to our kids ensures that they are performing at grade level or above, experiencing success in a learning environment and gaining knowledge and experiences that they can take with them wherever life takes them.
Education is not all about putting your nose in a book and getting good grades. It is really a way to discover new things, spark a new passion and increase our knowledge. Education introduces you to different cultures, religions and thought processes that you may never be exposed to otherwise. It helps build creative thinking skills, decision making skills, problem solving skills and social skills. Education also provides a stepping stone to the real world, offering many different courses on proper financial techniques, life planning and personal development.
We at El Ranchito feel that education is the foundation in strengthening children and providing them with the opportunities to build a better future. But, the best education for each of these children does not come cheap and it doesn’t end when the bell rings at the end of the day. Providing these children with all that they need to succeed goes beyond just a private education- they need tutoring, school supplies and other resources, so we continue to need and ask for your support.
The Difference an Investment in Education Can Make
Many wonder why we send our kids to private school. Private schools provide small class sizes and better student-to-teacher ratio – which provides them with a sense of belonging, something many of them have never known. The schools we choose have some of the lowest teacher to student ratios in our area, on average 11:1.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics:
- Graduation Rate: 92% private school vs. 89% public school
- Apply to college: 88% private school vs. 57% public school
- Attend a 4-year college 64 % private school vs. 40% public school
But, we also know that it’s not just about what school they attend, but the support they receive at home. By allowing our children to live at El Ranchito past the age of 18 and helping them transition after high school, we overcome some of the worst statistics that plague the foster care system:
- One in four will be incarcerated within the first two years after leaving the system.
- Over 20% will become homeless at some time after age 18.
- Approximately 58% attained a high school degree at age 19, compared to 87% of non-foster youth.
- Of youth who aged out of foster care and are over the age of 25, less than 3% earned their college degrees, compared with 28% of the general population.
