Martin Luther King Jr. Fellowship Program Report January - June 2018

Fellowship Program in Apartadó, Colombia, has made significant progress in academic and leadership development. As of June 2018, 18 fellows are actively taking English courses from Monday through Thursday and participating in leadership sessions. The group has reached a B1 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference, with an average grade of 37.5. Most students obtained average grades between 3.4 and 4.4, with only one student excelling during the first semester of 2018. The academic performance of the MLK group in Apartadó is ranked as excellent, with 44% of students achieving this level, followed by very good and good. The group has made progress not only in the academic component but also in the leadership part, with fellows designing and implementing a social initiative in a vulnerable community in the region. They have also carried out the first activity with the CHOP students within the framework of the MLK – CHOP mentoring program. Tatiana López, a business management student at Universidad de Antioquia, has shown great English language skills since the program started. She has been an academic support for her fellow classmates and has been recognized as a high-performing student. On the other hand, Loredana Cuello Acosta and Yarlenis Mena are students who struggle with the basic concepts of the language and require additional support. They attend tutoring sessions and conversation clubs weekly and participate in the big brother program to receive academic assistance and practice. The MLK group in Apartadó has also made progress in leadership development, with fellows participating in leadership sessions and designing and implementing social initiatives. They have worked collaboratively towards the achievement of common goals related to social campaigns and the organization of events such as the commemoration of Afro Colombian Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Native American Month. The group has also participated in academic and leadership programs abroad, such as the SUSI program 2018 and the American Culture Course at Temple University in Pennsylvania. The demographic composition of the MLK group in Apartadó is mainly composed of female Afro Colombian students, with 86% of the group identifying as female and 14% as male. The group has not varied significantly in terms of gender and ethnic status, with most groups continuing to be mainly composed of female Afro Colombian students.