Diego’s Story, Part 3
May 26, 2025
Two days a week, students who need extra support stay at El Hogar in the afternoons for tutoring. The teachers come together as a team to design activities and offer personalized help to the students who need it the most. Profesora Karla and her colleagues look for each child’s strengths and interests, using those as the foundation for learning.
Most students from the public system need help catching up in reading and writing, often far behind their grade level when they arrive. Through years of experience, Profesora Karla and the educational team know that academic success depends less on students’ innate ability and more on resources they have or haven’t had access to such as consistent encouragement, individualized support and someone who believes in them. At El Hogar, quality education means more than academics. It means building confidence, offering social and emotional support, and showing each child that they matter and that they can.
After the first few weeks of class and tutoring, Diego started to feel different. Where the letters on the page once looked like a jumble of shapes, they began to form words that he could recognize. The words turned into sentences and into stories. The nervous silence and apprehension of his first few weeks were replaced with a quiet eagerness. He started raising his hand in class to answer a question, smiling when he got an answer right. He started to lean in instead of pulling back. Diego discovered that he had a knack for solving word problems in math. He liked the challenge of figuring out the puzzle and the satisfaction of coming up with the answer. Diego loved geography! He enjoyed studying the continents and colouring maps, proudly naming countries and capitals he had never heard of before. To his own surprise, Diego even enjoyed the novel study in Spanish class! They were reading Mujercitas (Little Women), and he followed the March sisters’ lives with interest, sometimes even reading ahead when the class was done! The most unexpected discovery was Diego’s passion for drawing. He found joy in sketching the things he saw around him and drawing from his own imagination, putting stories, dreams and ideas on paper for the first time.
Thanks to Profesora Karla and El Hogar, learning was no longer something to fear for Diego. It was something he looked forward to because now, he knew he could. El Hogar has given him the gift of a future filled with words he can read, stories he can tell, and opportunities he can finally reach for.
The culture of learning at El Hogar is one built on belief, encouragement, and possibility. Here, students aren’t defined by where they start, but by how far they can go. Our teachers don’t just teach subjects—they nurture confidence, celebrate small victories, and walk alongside each child on their learning journey.
For Profesora Karla, she knows that each student who passes through El Hogar’s doors has the potential to be whatever they want to be. But for her, it’s not just about future careers or academic success. What brings Profesora Karla deep satisfaction is running into former students in the community and seeing that they are good people with strong values, confidence in themselves and kindness in their heart.
This is what makes El Hogar different: a place where children like Diego are seen, supported, and empowered to become who they were always meant to be. Just like the morning sun that slips through the cracks in the walls of his home, light is breaking through the cracks in Diego’s future, revealing paths he never knew were there. And at El Hogar, that same light reaches every student, opening doors to possibilities once out of reach.
Thank you for believing in students like Diego and making it possible for them to discover their potential. Your support brings lasting change—turning self-doubt into confidence, and challenges into opportunity.
