The MSP has become a year- round activity as it has attracted more interest both in Macedonia and the USA.

Early in the year we coordinated the purchase and delivery of school material for Macedonian students funded by the First Methodist Church of Ellensburg’s annual Christmas offering. The generous contribution amounted to nearly $1,000. Tara Afholter from Lincoln School in Ellensburg diligently coordinated the effort. We sent most of the supplies to Tito School in Struga, Macedonia by late spring.
In addition Podkrepa and others donated some additional books for the English Resource Center at Bratstvo-Edinstvo School in Ohrid. We also learned chess material donated by Podkrepa members last year helped the local chess club compete on the regional level. One young lady from the club went on to compete in the national chess championships.
We didn’t receive as much in contributions this year. However the Oregon Community Foundation provided MSP with $750. Another $250 came along from other donors.
At Bratstvo-Edinstvo School in Ohrid, we managed to leverage a purchase of a new white board for the ITT room. The white board complements a special prize of an “E-beam” that Emilijia Paunkoska won at a Macedonian teacher’s conference. With the two new tools, the school has greatly enhanced its teaching capability. Meanwhile, for the village school in Leskoec, we purchased 2 replacement chalkboards
In June, two American teaching volunteers traveled to Ohrid as the first members of the MSP’s Volunteer Teaching Experience; Jennifer Carroll and Bonnie Layne. Jennifer coordinated a dance experience with children from various schools in the area. (See photo gallery) Bonnie worked with adults interested in improving their English. Many of Bonnie’s students were Macedonia teachers from the area. Jennifer and Bonnie’s experiences helped us identify areas of improvement. We plan to offer the experience again in 2014 (see Teaching Experience tab).
Bonnie is a graduate student at the University of Washington Department of Slavic Language and Literature in Seattle. Jennifer is a popular puppeteer artist in the Pacific Northwest.
Our Classroom Connection program moved to older students this fall as 12-15 students from Morgan Middle School in Ellensburg have paired their peers at the Tito School for the year.
Our MSP Facebook page now has over 100 friends. Maybe that means something too!