“Horizontes” project seeks to prepare students for new paths through education

Understanding the idea:

Horizontes sets out to provide guidance, academic support and prepare beneficiary students, within the public school itself, to have better opportunities in public competitions for access to high school, to scholarships and participation in school Olympiads.

Activities Offered include:

• Lectures for parents about the academic opportunities that students have in elementary school (such as School Olympiads, scholarships in social projects and competitions for High School and Higher Education)
• Lectures for students about these opportunities
• Supplimentary Classes in Mathematics
• Coordination and registration in chool Olympiads
• Students orientation during registration in competitions for admission in High School.

In short, Horizontes motivates, prepares and guides students to enter competitions and enrol in state and federal educational institutions, either to attend high school or continue in higher education. This support is offered during the final years of primary school.

How did it start?

Horizontes project, which first started in 2001, was created by mathematics teacher Katia Machinez da Cunha a few months after she joined the Presidente Médici Municipal School in Bangu, in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro. Still in 2020, the project has gone beyond Bangu and to include the Urca neighbourhood, at Escola Municipal Estácio de Sá. The programme continues to benefit students from the Bangu community.

Number of project beneficiaries 

Average of 700 students since its creation.

Age range:

Children in Elementary School II, from 11 to 16 years old.

What changes emerged?

The results were so good and so overwhelmingly positive that the teacher felt compelled to study Applied Neuroscience of Learning in order to better understand whart the neurological process was behind her students and what changes the methodology she applied provoked in those who participated in the programme.

Katia’s questions were why have the children improved with her supplementary classes? How has this transformation happened? Why did the children who joined the project start to have goals, learnt how to learn and started believing in their own capacity? How did these kids compete with students from private schools and win in the end? Through studying Neuroscience, she discovered that the answer to each one of her questions was simple: motivation.

She realised that the belief “I can’t” is deeply embedded in the minds of low-income students in general. These students are not encouraged or motivated to continue their education beyond primary school and truly believe that they will fail in these challenges. “Are you going to take a test for a competition?” Katia would ask the classesstudents  No, they would say. “Why not?” she’d respond. The answer was that they would fail because they attended public schools. “Yes, you can, because you have time to study; all you have to do is wish to and dedicate yourself to your studies, because you are all capable and intelligent,” the teacher would reframe this..

Remote activities continued during the pandemic 

The project did not stop during the Pandemic. On the contrary, the number of people participating increased. Today, activities are primarily carried out online and Horizontes is running at the Municipal School Estácio de Sá and at the República-FAETEC State Elementary School and continues to benefit all the students at the Municipal School Presidente Médici, where the project initially started.

Katia Machinez has a dream: to see other teachers replicating her project throughout the Public Education System. She intends to use the project in her PhD so that it becomes a teaching methodology. One of her goals is to make all of the content she teaches her students available on the internet via a well-structured website, so that everyone can access it.. She also intends to publish videos and interviews with former students telling their life stories and their experience within the project, chats between former and current students, testimonials and other information with the aim of inspiring all who want to follow the same academic path.

Testimonials from two former students of the Horizontes project

“Abrindo Horizontes project has significantly changed my way of thinking, mainly because, at the beginning, I was pretty young, I was 13, 14 years old, I didn’t have much of an idea of what I could do with my potential, with my future, of what was to come, I had no idea of what I was going to do in life. That was when my teacher Katia suggested I took the Colibri exam. After passing the exam I managed to change my life perspective, I graduated from EPCAr – Preparatory School for Air Cadets, which was one of the goals of the exam. But I wasn’t the only one in my family who benefited from the project. My sister also participated in the project, took the test for FAETEC, she also passed the exam and today she has a degree in Accounting. Overall, professor Katia’s good will and example have already provided many changes. Having someone to look up to is important, showing that life is not just a matter of fighting for your success, but also fighting for the success of others. And she does that. “

Ricardo Augusto, 22 years old, attending the 2nd year of AFA – Air Force Academy.  

” Abrindo Horizontes project was a blessing and a wonderful surprise for me and my family: my brother also participated. Professor Katia did a great job with us; she exposed us to various opportunities. The classes were theoretical and practical, and therefore fun as well. I was already a fan of maths, but I had no idea of what was to come, I knew about the Maths Olympiad, but had never taken part and it was very good. I hope to be able to give back to the project as soon as possible”

Ari Guilherme, 20, graduating in Data Science from FGV – Fundação Getúlio Vargas, Rio de Janeiro.

Challenge & Achievements:

Challenge: 

Professor Kátia describes her biggest challenge as trying to reconcile her paid work and studies with a project to which she is completely dedicated. 

Achievements

Since 2004, students have gone on to study at the Federal Pedro II College, FAETEC (Technical School Support Foundation) and military training colleges. Two former students of the early years are officers of the Brazilian Navy. 

Students who participated in Horizontes while still in Elementary School II are now professionals in Information Technology, Mathematics, Marine Biology, Chemical Engineering, Philosophy, Medicine, and History, among other fields.. 

“Five students from Estácio de Sá Municipal School, in Urca, participated in the OBA – Brazilian Olympiad of Astronomy (http://www.oba.org.br/site/). One of the students won a Silver Medal in the Mostra de Brasileira de Foguetes-MOBFOG and Gold in the OBA, being invited to participate in the National Selective. She went on and was invited to participate in the International Selective. From this student’s group, three won full scholarships at the Franco Brasileiro School, and all this remotely,” says Katia.

Katia also managed, in 2020, to get 10% of FAETEC School students to register for the Brazilian Astronomy Astronautics Olympics and the result was nine medals. At the Brazilian Rocket Show, 17 students built virtual rockets, and all won medals. “The victories are so great, they’re practically immeasurable,” he says.

How to support the programmes growth?

More details: http://profkatia2007.blogspot.com/

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