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Central Escolar Integral de Mexicali student Ivanna Rojas reads to the class while teacher Araceli Serrano watches Jan. 26. (Chelcey Adami) |
MEXICALI — Jon Harmon, 26, fondly recalls crossing the U.S.-Mexico border to go to school each morning and seeing thousands of students coming from Mexico as he was going in.
The blond, blue-eyed child from an English-speaking household attended Centro Escolar Integral de Mexicali for seven years, preschool through sixth grade.
“I absolutely loved it from what I remember. People were so caring and loving. They accepted me with open arms,” Harmon said. “They took me in and provided for me and really gave me the opportunity to be part of the community down there.”
CEIM was created by a group of parents 21 years ago.
Today it has more than 200 students with classes available from preschool through secondary levels.
“We didn’t want a massive school with many pupils and didn’t want our children to attend classes with knots in their stomachs,” Humberto Alcalde, one of the founding parents, wrote in Spanish.
“On the contrary, we wanted an educational community conducive to meaningful learning where all are acquainted and called by name, with open and tolerant ways of being and thinking differently.”
While a majority of the students are from Mexicali, the school has a history with more than 10 families from the Imperial Valley that have sent their children there.
Alberto de los Rios was one of the founding parents as well. He was asked to speak to both a class of kindergarteners as well as a university class years ago. The disparity in enthusiasm between the classes inspired him to create CEIM.
“Between three and 23 years, what happened between then? Twenty years of bad schooling that killed any type of curiosity,” he said.
De los Rios and other parents began walking the hard road of creating a school themselves.
While applying for a loan at the bank, the bank asked what the product was. The answer was “talent.”
They didn’t get the loan.
But after much difficulty and private funding, the organizers amassed 17 potential students and began by renting a home. The school later was moved into a larger home where the school has stayed for the past 15 years.
Early into the move, students would often find “treasures” in classrooms that had been left by previous residents, De los Rios said while laughing.
Today the school is a vibrant community with classes and after-school workshops offered five days a week and sports.
Classroom desks are specifically placed in clusters, horseshoe shapes or circles to encourage collaborative learning.
The library offers regular and e-books, and students proudly show off their library cards.
“Reading has to be a pleasure. It can’t be an assignment,” De los Rios said. “That was initially very hard, because parents believed you should order one to love to read.”
The blond, blue-eyed child from an English-speaking household attended Centro Escolar Integral de Mexicali for seven years, preschool through sixth grade.
“I absolutely loved it from what I remember. People were so caring and loving. They accepted me with open arms,” Harmon said. “They took me in and provided for me and really gave me the opportunity to be part of the community down there.”
CEIM was created by a group of parents 21 years ago.
Today it has more than 200 students with classes available from preschool through secondary levels.
“We didn’t want a massive school with many pupils and didn’t want our children to attend classes with knots in their stomachs,” Humberto Alcalde, one of the founding parents, wrote in Spanish.
“On the contrary, we wanted an educational community conducive to meaningful learning where all are acquainted and called by name, with open and tolerant ways of being and thinking differently.”
While a majority of the students are from Mexicali, the school has a history with more than 10 families from the Imperial Valley that have sent their children there.
Alberto de los Rios was one of the founding parents as well. He was asked to speak to both a class of kindergarteners as well as a university class years ago. The disparity in enthusiasm between the classes inspired him to create CEIM.
“Between three and 23 years, what happened between then? Twenty years of bad schooling that killed any type of curiosity,” he said.
De los Rios and other parents began walking the hard road of creating a school themselves.
While applying for a loan at the bank, the bank asked what the product was. The answer was “talent.”
They didn’t get the loan.
But after much difficulty and private funding, the organizers amassed 17 potential students and began by renting a home. The school later was moved into a larger home where the school has stayed for the past 15 years.
Early into the move, students would often find “treasures” in classrooms that had been left by previous residents, De los Rios said while laughing.
Today the school is a vibrant community with classes and after-school workshops offered five days a week and sports.
Classroom desks are specifically placed in clusters, horseshoe shapes or circles to encourage collaborative learning.
The library offers regular and e-books, and students proudly show off their library cards.
“Reading has to be a pleasure. It can’t be an assignment,” De los Rios said. “That was initially very hard, because parents believed you should order one to love to read.”
