Welcome to the Spanish Education Fund
The Spanish Education Fund (SEF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization formed in 2009. Our purpose is to raise money and recruit parent volunteers to support the International Teaching Intern Program at Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion School (K-6), Central Middle School (7-8) and Eden Prairie High School (9-12).
Interns from Spanish speaking countries from around the world assist teachers and students in classrooms at these schools, providing a unique educational resource that has been proven extremely valuable to language acquisition, by bring their language and cultures to life. As a result, students become more confident in their ability to communicate in Spanish and create connections to people and places outside of their own world.
In addition to fundraising, we work with school staff to review and select intern candidates, recruit host and buddy families for the interns from our parent community for the duration of their stay, collect donations of winter clothing, organize parent volunteers to provide transportation for interns, and many other things to ensure interns have a positive experience while in the U.S. gaining valuable experience in the field of education.
Our Mission
Support the Eden Prairie Spanish immersion program, through sustainable funding, to host the best volunteer international Spanish speaking interns and provide other educational and cultural resources.
Latest News
As we start the 2021-21 school year, we’ll have another year where our intern program will look a little different than “normal”. Amity International (the organization who helps us locate interns) has shared that applications are down and embassies around the world are not granting Visas as they have in the past. As a result, we’ll have some interns for the full year (from countries where Visas are being issued) and we hope additional interns will join us in January for the second semester.
We’re very grateful for any interns we receive this year, and will keep everyone updated as we confirm our interns status throughout the school year.
Intern Videos
Where are they now?
Carolina Cerpa was an intern at EHSI during 2017-2018. Check out her video here.
Mely Asprilla was an intern at EHSI during 2018-2019. Check out her video here.
Alberto Obregón was an intern at EHSI during 2017-2018. Check out his video here.
Marta Esteban, Eddy Quintero, David Gómez, Gaby Mendez were interns at EHSI during 2019-2020). Check out their video here.
Volunteering
2021 – 2022 Committee Opportunities
Our Intern Committee Chair(s) work closely with other Intern Committee members to ensure our interns have a successful year interning. The SEF Intern committee consists of a Host Family Coordinator, a Buddy Family Coordinator, a Transportation & Cultural Events Coordinator and Intern Clothing Coordinator. The Chair(s) supports committee members in their work while providing oversight/coordination of efforts. If you’re a strong communicator, detail orientated and well organized, this is a great role for you. Time commitment is approximately 2 – 5 hours per month during recruiting season, then on an as needed basis. If you’re interested in volunteering or have questions, please contact Sarah Bailey at sarahb11278@gmail.com.
Transportation/Cultural Events Coordinator(s)
Looking for an opportunity to take a fun and active role with SEF which provides lots of interaction with our Interns? SEF is seeking a Transportation /Cultural Events Coordinator.
In this role, you’ll plan cultural events for our interns during 2021-22 School year. Typically this is one event per month sponsored by the SEF. Sponsoring may include coordinating entrance fees or funds for food/beverage expenses during the activity. All plans should stay within the approved Cultural Event budget and be experiences that are ideally unique to living in Minnesota. Time commitment is approximately 1 – 2 hours per month depending on event. When events occur (and a few ad-hoc transportation needs) Transportation Coordinator will solicit rides from volunteer families for our interns to get two and from events. This role also includes annual and monthly maintenance for SEF Transportation site. Time commitment is approximately 3 – 5 hours for one time annual maintenance effort and 2 – 3 hours per month for monthly maintenance and ride solicitation.
If you are interested or know someone who might be, please contact Sarah at sarahb11278@gmail.com
At the end of the 2021 – 2022 school year, several of our Board of Directors will rotate out of leadership positions as their students move on to Central Middle School. If you have an interest in joining the SEF Board as Chair, Treasurer or Secretary, we’d love to have you meet with the current board members and join our monthly meetings to learn more. If you’re interested in learning more about the roles, please contact the following:
Cinco de Mayo Fiesta 2022
FUNDRAISING
The International Teaching Intern Program is 100% funded by parent contributions to our Annual Contributions Campaign and employer matching programs. We receive no financial support from the school district or schools.
While we won’t have interns for our schools to start the 2020-21 school year, our goal remains for families to make their annual contribution at the start of the school year. This ensures our program remains financially stable for the future and is able to continue to bring interns to our schools.
The most important aspect is that EVERY immersion family contributes some amount to the program to help share the financial burden of the program as all of our children benefit from this unique educational resource in some way.
The suggested contribution is $150 per student or whatever amount works in your family’s budget. It’s the easiest way to support the program…write one check at the beginning of the school year, and you are done!
Make Your Annual Contribution
Annual Contribution
Did you know… 100% of your Annual Contribution goes to the SEF and is the primary source of funding for the International Teaching Intern Program? It’s easy to contribute, just use the donate button below.
Monthly Annual Contribution
Want to spread out your Annual Contribution into budget friendly monthly payments? Select a monthly payment option from the drop down menu and click the SUBSCRIBE button below instead to make monthly Annual Contribution donations.
| Monthly Payment Options |
Checks
Make checks payable to the Spanish Education Fund and mail to:
SEF Treasurer
c/o Eagle Heights Spanish Immersion School
13400 Staring Lake Parkway
Eden Prairie, MN 55347
SEF Federal Tax ID# 27-0584708
Spanish Education Fund | info@spanisheducationfund.org | Expanding our children’s world
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