Learners Without Borders is a project that gives our high school aged students an opportunity to engage with our local community and to help enrich the lives of youth in communities in need. Our inaugural trip in 2016 led us to Amando López, a rural community in El Salvador still healing from decades of civil war, and highly vulnerable to gang activity and violence, particularly for young Salvadoran men.
Our delegation included two high school students who attende Learners Chess educational programs throughout their youth. While in Amando López, we ran an 8-day chess program for a group of 36 kids and 2 teachers, taught entirely in Spanish. Our high school leaders taught basic piece movement and some advanced chess tactics, awarded prizes for skills learned, and ran a tournament on the last day. We left 20 chess sets and 2 teaching boards with our new friends in Amando López, hoping we had inspired them to continue playing and learning after we left. Three weeks after our departure, we happily learned that the kids and teachers are now meeting twice a week and teaching students from nearby communities how to play chess! We intend to continue growing Learners Without Borders to mentor our rising Albuquerque chess leaders and to engage with under resourced communities around the Southwest United States and Latin America.
The mission of Learners Chess is to use chess as a medium through which children develop analytical, social, and leadership skills for success in school and in life.
532 Adams NE