The city of Los Ángeles in Chile has 9 new professionals thanks to scholarship program
The Construye Futuro [Building the Future] Program of CMPC and the Portas Foundation seeks to encourage higher education students to finish their studies instead of dropping out through a comprehensive support scholarship. More than 900 students are now part of the project.
In Chile, 18.3% of students nationwide drop out of higher education in their first year. In the case of the Biobío and La Araucanía Regions in south central Chile the figures are more concerning. These figures stand at 22.9% and 23.8% respectively according to the Higher Education Information Service of the Ministry of Education in Chile.
The Portas Foundation and CMPC joined forces in 2019 to support the young adults in these two regions through a comprehensive program designed so they can keep pursuing higher education and graduate on time. CMPC – Portas Construye Futuro [Building the Future] is an intervention program in educational communities that includes mental health, psycho-pedagogical and academic support as well as soft skills workshops, professional mentorships and financial aid.
On this occasion, in the city of Los Angeles, the fourth and final graduation ceremony was held in the regions of Biobío and La Araucanía. The others were in the cities of Cañete, Temuco, and Concepción. The event was attended by program graduates, the Portas Foundation Executive Director María Eugenia López; CMPC Community Relations Department Head in Los Angeles Cristian Santibáñez and the Portas Foundation board of directors member Carmen Paz, among other Construye Futuro collaborators.
CMPC Community Relations Department head Christián Santibáñez said, “We are happy, because we were able to first identify which young people from the territories, essentially our neighbors, have excellent grades and did well in the process of applying for higher education. The students who graduated from the Construye Futuro Program have completed an educational process, providing experiences they can use to help motivate other young people to pursue their dreams.”
Carmen Astete, member of the Portas Foundation board of directors expressed her satisfaction for having been able help young people adapt to university life and support their educational pursuits. “We’ve fulfilled our dream of helping young adults who were first generation of university students in their family finish their degree programs. We are fulfilling a mission. I have a lot of gratitude for each of the young adults who’ve finished the program because it shows that what we are doing here makes sense.”
Advancing life plans
One of the graduates is Leonor Cea, from the town of Renaico in the Araucanía Region. She became a nursing technician, having studied at AIEP Los Angeles. She is happily already working in a local hospital. Talking about he he feels upon completing this stage she said, “This aid was very important to me both financially and emotionally. They accompanied me throughout the process, and I am very grateful for that. I want to thank my facilitator, Mr Fabián, who was there for me whenever I needed something or had a problem. It took me a while to find a job, but I was patient and now I’m happy with the outcome.”
Similar feelings were expressed by Francesca Vinet from Mulchén, a district in the Biobío Region. She studied nursery school education. She described her experience in the program by saying, “I can say now that the feeling is one of joy and excitement to graduate from the Construye Futuro Program, which was at my side at all times. They gave us an employability workshop, where they taught us how to create a résumé and job-hunting tips. I’m happy to have been a participant.”
The CMPC – Portas Construye Futuro program pursues the shared goal of encouraging higher education students to finish their studies instead of dropping out of universities, professional and technical training institutes. To date, about 90 people have gone through the program and more than 800 students are currently part of Construye Futuro.
