"I think that through education it is possible to overcome poverty..." - Marcelo Platero, education program coordinator, Children International - Chile

From the start, the odds seem to be stacked against them. They deal with an environment rife with peer pressure and drugs. They have to make their way in a new and different world, surrounded by different people, facing new and difficult challenges. And poverty, as always, is a complicating factor. For many students in underdeveloped countries, the move from primary school to high school can be a swift moving river of change that is nearly impossible to navigate. Especially when they come from families who not only want - but often expect - their children to drop out to help support the family. In some of the countries where Children International works, fewer than half of the students successfully transition from primary to secondary school. In Guatemala, for instance, only three of 10 children graduate from sixth grade and only one of 20 enter high school, according to the United States Agency for International Development. "We need families to understand that [school] is an important means of social development," declares Marcelo Platero, education program coordinator, Children International - Chile. "Education is a way of staying away from many problems that we have in our communities." This is especially true at such a vulnerable time, when subtle influences have such a big impact on their lives...and their opportunities. Alejandra González Reinoso, a 14-year-old living in Chile, affirms the tenuous grasp young students have on the future. "I am scared," she confesses. "I don't know how high school will be. I don't know anybody and I will have new classmates. Being sponsored helps me very much." Starting at an early age, sponsorship is one way to maintain an ongoing and positive influence that reinforces the value of education. Programs, from tutoring and study groups to sports programs, library and computer access, and special training, involve children in ways that fortify their abilities and build self-esteem. "It's very important that we work with children from a young age," explains Jim Cook, president of Children International. "If they are sponsored from early in life until young adulthood, we know they have more of a chance of breaking the cycle of poverty and finding success. An education will help avoid the traps that can befall impoverished children. And the time when they're entering high school is when they are easiest to lose." Standing on a street corner in Guadalajara, Mexico, 14-year-old José Fernández Segura, acknowledges the plight of dropouts like himself. "We are already lost." he says, looking away. "We have nowhere to go." About 8,000 miles away, in Legazpi, Philippines, another 14-year-old is taking a different path. Lalaine Raposon is currently enrolled in one of Legazpi's public schools and, despite being confronted by the ever-present issues of poverty, drugs, gangs and peer pressure, she is excelling. "Since elementary, Children International is always ready to lend a helping hand. I have the confidence to overcome the challenges of secondary education because of the training I have received." Lalaine is involved in Succeeding Teenager Encounter Program (STEP) a transition program organized by Children International in Legazpi that prepares students for high school. For Lalaine, it couldn't have come at a better time. "Moving into secondary school entails greater responsibility," she emphasizes. "This has paved the way to a better future for me." For impoverished children, a successful outcome rests heavily upon making the transition from primary to secondary school. Sadly, many don't make it. Some must work to help families survive, drugs or crime lures others, or they are simply unable to pay for school supplies, so they face an uncertain future where the only guarantee is more poverty. The help they receive at this critical stage can make or break their drive toward a future filled with possibilities.