Cookbook Club: Reflections of Cabarete
Description:
Students will explore the diverse, unique culinary cuisines of their international community and will develop a cookbook to market them. Students will attend a wide variety of lessons that include simple lessons on the importance of measurements in recipes, as well as more complex lessons on plotting expenses and projected income. Adolescents will gather local recipes, write reviews, learn about different cultural cuisines and sell advertisement space to local restaurants. The finished product will reflect the wonderfully rich demographics of their community.
Students’ strengths will be assessed during the first week of camp and subsequent lessons will focus on their interests and abilities in areas such as: computer graphics, layout design, English translation, photography and marketing. Each adolescent will ultimately be able to feel a sense of accomplishment as they contribute a specific skill and learn the importance of group collaboration.
Goal: In the summer of 2008, the students’ skills will be assessed and roles will be assigned to match these abilities. This team will then work to compile the cookbook to be marketed. Once a strong team is established, DREAM volunteers will continue to work with this group throughout the 2008-2009 academic year to continue to refine skills, enhance the product and begin small-scale distribution. In 2009, the group will be able to develop a marketing and distribution plan for their finished product that will generate a self-sustaining income that can be used for continued annual production.
Academic Highlights:
• ESL: Students will participate in an intensive 4-week English course geared towards the culinary industry so that the finished product will be a bilingual publication.
• Literacy: Academically advanced students will learn different literary mediums as they compile recipe descriptions, research cultural origins of food, write food reviews for the Cabarete newspaper and edit the final product.
• Math: Students excelling in math will be identified as the marketers and will learn the basics of financial analysis by developing business and marketing plans with expense and income charts.
• Advanced Photography/Computer Design: Artistically inclined students will receive intensive courses in advanced photography, graphic design and computer skills to help design the finished product.
“Guias Scout” (Dominican Girl Scouts) Program: Respecting Myself, My Environment and My Community
Description: A recently published World Bank statistic notes that the child of a mother with no education has only a 28% likelihood of attending school, but that rises to 71% if the mother has completed high school or better. The DREAM Project has noted that the presence of a culturally institutionalized gender gap minimizes opportunities to females outside the home environment. By creating an all-female group, the DREAM Project hopes to narrow this gap.
In a course modeled on the basic tenets of the Girl Scouts program on environmental appreciation, teenage girls will become empowered through a series of self-esteem and community-building activities. As young leaders, they will learn more about the extensive national park behind their neighborhood and the role nature can play in developing sustainable tourism. These girls will then be partnered with local eco-tourism businesses to start mini-business projects aimed at improving their community. Potential projects to be carried out over two years include educating and providing both foreigners and local community members with an eco-friendly trash disposal service, selling affordable solar panels to local community members and leading cave tours in the national park. Most importantly, the course will keep adolescent girls engaged in their education as they take pride in themselves and their community.
Goal: In the summer of 2008, strong female leaders will be identified and empowered as community leaders. Instilling pride in these girls will allow them to transfer this new sense of respect to their community. Engaging this group in environmental issues and forming plans for community projects will be the first goal for the summer of 2008. DREAM volunteers will continue to work with this group of teenage girls running projects and mini-businesses, and providing invaluable services such as a trash collection and affordable solar panel installations to their community. In 2009, the group will be able to develop a marketing plan, as their reputation grows through public service announcements and community betterment, that will enable them to generate a self-sustaining income by promoting eco-tourism and serving as the ambassadors for both the local and foreign populations of Cabarete.
Academic Highlights:
• ESL: Students will participate in an intensive 4-week English course geared towards the ecotourism industry so that they produce public service announcements and provide services that reach the whole community.
• Environmental Science: Youth will learn about waste management, energy production, the detrimental costs of electricity (both monetary and environmental), and the benefits of eco-tourism. These young women will become experts in the natural assets their community has to offer and serve as ambassadors to the community by providing much needed education and services to both local and foreign community members alike.
• Public Health: This course will include special emphasis on public health education and risks. Teenage girls will learn about healthy practices first-hand by participating in an exercise program and learning about the importance of good nutrition and the dangers of water contamination. The group will then disseminate the knowledge throughout the community by providing public service announcements and realistic solutions.
• Literacy: Academically advanced students will develop their skills by designing and creating public service announcements and writing public health articles for the Cabarete newspaper.
• Math: Students excelling in math will be identified as the marketers and will learn the basics of financial analysis by developing business and marketing plans with expense and income charts for projects such as trash collection and solar panel sales.
Hospitality and Restaurant Course:
Description: Students will run a mini restaurant at summer camp and complete a job training certification course in a food service specialty. Local restaurants will serve as sponsors for the program and provide guidance, demonstrations and seminars in the first year. DREAM volunteers will collaborate effectively to create specific qualifications, so that partnering restaurants will recognize DREAM certification as an official training program and agree to hire successful graduates of the program. Students will learn lessons spanning from sanitary cooking conditions to customer service and become integrated into the workforce as skilled employees.
Goal: The goal for the 2008 program is to create an accredited training program recognized by the businesses in Cabarete that work in the food industry. By establishing qualifications and set criteria for hiring and recruiting business sponsors, adolescents can begin the necessary training needed to gain employment within one of the dominant industries of the Cabarete economy. Students' interests can be matched with an area of specialty. During the 2008-2009 academic year, DREAM volunteers can continue with the necessary training and English classes needed for job requirements.
Restaurants can offer additional training by hosting an apprentice for one day a week. In 2009, students graduating the program and earning DREAM Service Certification can then gain employment within the industry. After the success of the pilot program and as the program grows, it is DREAM’s hope to incorporate training for management positions within hotel industries for exceptional students.
Academic Highlights:
• ESL: Students will participate in an intensive 4-week English course geared towards the service industry.
• Math: There will be an intensive math component so that students will be calculate simple additions and subtractions as well as understand tax rates and quickly calculate percentages.
• Public Health: This course will include special emphasis on public health education. Adolescents will learn about a wide range of health related issues such as proper food preparation, dangers of food-related illnesses such as salmonella and the effects of second-hand smoke.
• Human Relations: Students will take basic business and managerial courses to learn not only about customer service skills, but also how a team is effectively managed. Adolescents will receive situations that allow them to think creatively and problem-solve.
Local Newspaper Course: Cabarete Dreams
Description: Youth with strong writing skills will work with volunteers to produce a community newspaper. Students will learn about the media industry and the importance of current events, locally and internationally. Students will be assigned roles based upon their interests and skill sets that instill leadership responsibilities - such as Editor in Chief, Copy Editor, Photographer, Journalist, Political Opinion Writer, Cultural Critic, etc. These students will then work together to produce a community newsletter that highlights local issues and reaches out to all of the members of its diverse international population.
Students will sell advertisement space, job listings, and event announcements for the entire community - including everything from the Guzman Ariza Summer Girls Groups’ Public Service Announcements to a job posting for a kite surfing school.
Goal: For the 2008 program, the goal is to identify and empower adolescents. By assigning different leadership roles accompanied with the necessary training, students can become motivated and engaged in the project. DREAM volunteers will work with the group throughout the 2008-2009 academic year to enhance and refine the quality of the quarterly publications. In 2009, students will develop a marketing plan to increase distribution. Income generated from advertisement postings would then serve to sustain production.
Academic Highlights:
• ESL: Students will participate in an intensive 4-week English course to produce a bilingual publication that will reach the whole community.
• Literacy: Academically advanced students will be trained in a variety of different literary mediums as they write opinion pieces, journalistic reports, conduct interviews, research current affairs, and edit the final product.
• Math: Students excelling in math will be identified as marketers and will form a finance committee. They will learn the basics of financial analysis by developing business and marketing plans with expense and income charts for printing costs and advertisement income.
• Advanced Photography/Computer Design: Artistically inclined students will receive intensive courses in advanced photography, graphic design and computer skills to assist in the production.
