Meet Edinzon, a sixth-grade student at Safe Passage. We’d like to share his story, in his own words:

My name is Edinzon, I’m 12 years old, and I’m the sixth of eight siblings. My mom supports us by working in the garbage dump, mainly collecting plastic bottles to sell. One of my sisters also works inside the dump, and I’ve been a part of Safe Passage since I was 2 years old.

What I like the most about coming to school is Crew because we have fun while we learn. I use most of my energy during the Crew because we get to go outside and do fun activities that help us practice using our values, such as trust and leadership.

My favorite class is math because I like solving math problems. I like Expeditionary Learning because we don’t have too much homework – instead, we work together and learn through action. I think we get to learn more with EL because we have different teachers that are specialized in different subjects. I also like having different teachers because they all think and teach in a different way. My favorite teacher is Seño Yasmin because she is really patient and loving.

I’m proud of myself because now I’ve learned how to express myself in a better way. I’ve learned a lot here at school and I feel more confident about the things I say.

When I think about my community, what worries me the most is what happens inside the garbage dump. There have been many accidents there where people die, and I don’t want my mother and sister to be hurt in any way.

In the future, I want to be a lawyer so I can help other people. I’d like to come back to Safe Passage after I graduate and tell the other kids about my experience here and encourage them to follow their dreams.

Watch our “Educating Edinzon” video to see what a day in the life of a Safe Passage student looks like, and hear from Edinzon himself about how Safe Passage has helped him.