Jared shares his experience volunteering with the prime community
My name is Jared, I’m 30 and am from California. I served as a volunteer teaching English in Stairway to English for about 8 months from the beginning of 2016 through the end of the year, and what an incredible experience it was. Aside from the fact that there are a couple groups of very motivated students who want to improve and eventually fluently speak the English language, I was most impressed by their desire to give back to their community. Seeing young individuals taking a lead by organizing social activities for kids, to showing tourists around the Comuna 13 and telling its history, to planning and projecting ideas for ways to improve their neighborhood, these students went above and beyond their desire to just learn English and are seeking ways to apply it.
I would highly recommend to other foreigners the opportunity to either serve as a volunteer, or those just passing through Medellin to stop in and check out what the classes and activities that are going on within the Comuna. The owners of Prime language school have done a great job in coordinating volunteers to be involved in Stairway to English, and having a vision for what the students are truly capable of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_KCCRt5YgI
If you have any passion about teaching, or just like being a part of the transformation that is going on within the once oppressed areas of Medellin, Stairway to English provides a wonderful way for you to get involved in the community! Get involved!”
Jared Couch
volunteer, teacher