‘Sapientis Week’ unites private sector, education leaders
From left: Maritza Abadía of Banesco and (standing) Carmen Dechoudens, of the Juanita García Peraza Elementary School, with a group first graders during a reading session.
The recently held seventh edition of Sapientis Week brought together an eclectic group of private sector representatives and school directors to exchange thoughts and leadership strategies aimed at supporting the transformation of Puerto Rican public education.
“This year, Sapientis Week went in a new direction and focused on the school director, the indisputable leader of any successful school. Our objective was to encourage an exchange of ideas and leadership strategies between school directors and entrepreneurs and professionals,” said Mariely Rivera, executive director of Sapientis.
Private sector leaders who took part in this year’s event were: Ronald Pacheco and Luis Puig of Validation & Engineering Group; Julián Londoño and Marisa Hernández of Softek; Writer Janette Becerra; and Maritza Abadía, Banesco’s country manager for Puerto Rico. Sapientis Week is an annual event that looks to create awareness about public education and promote educational excellence, this year held Nov. 4-8.
“We brought together four outstanding school leaders with their corporate and art world counterparts to open a dialogue on leadership,” said Rivera.
The selected school directors for Sapientis Week are part of a project by the nonprofit that offers them additional tools and training in the educational leadership field. As part of this pilot project, the directors have to put the skills they acquire into action by developing a special reading and writing program for their schools. As part of their visit, the private sector guests had the opportunity to meet with students and get a firsthand look at the reading program.
The school directors that took part in Sapientis Week were: Damarys Collazo, Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School; Ramón Ortiz de Jesús, Evaristo Ribera Chevremont Elementary School; Dafne Jiménez, José Colombán Rosario Elementary School; and Carmen Dechoudens, Juanita García Peraza Elementary School.
By working with these educational leaders, Sapientis has the opportunity of transforming an environment where 1,500 students, 2,500 parents and volunteers, and 250 teachers and school personnel converge, Rivera said.
