Pelota de Trapo was born thanks to the mission of Pope Francis in Mozambique. During this visit, the HolyFather said: "there is one thing that really touched my heart" he then showed a small ball made of rags given to him by a young man with which, in the absence of a soccer ball, the children of that region play. "When I was a child, I played with a rag ball" Francis recalled.
Launching like this the Pelota de Trapo Program, a Scholas Sports curriculum implemented in all five continents!
Uniting youth through sports!
Sports with its true essence of the game. Where a rag ball and a square become the biggest soccer stadium, where a ball of paper and a hoop up high becomes a basketball field, where a simple piece of wood can be a baseball bat or a field hockey stick, where a box becomes a football helmet.
The Rag Ball (Pelota de Trapo) is a unique piece, built from different materials that all combined create the ball. Building a community of young leaders is the aim of this first step. A community that is characterized by its uniqueness and diversity.
Having a common concern, sharing a common issue is what so many times brings people to work together.In this program, 500 students between 15 and 18 years old from different schools from the same city come together in an educational experience that trains community leaders.
Without hearing the heart of one another, their personal and common concerns, we cannot build community.
Once we identify the common issue, we want to of course solve it, but it is important first to understand it. Knowledge is a key component for leadership.
Embracing collective action around a social issue is important not only to create community, but also to educate students in civil engagement.
As a celebration of the community, the young people will construct their first Rag Ball as a symbol of the work they begin to develop in the community. Each one arrived as a separate piece and they end up sharing all of them in that PDT.
The young people will receive intensive theoretical and practical training to be able to carry out sports activities as facilitators with children between 6 and 10 years old.
During the training each young person will have to choose in which sport he/she wants to specialize his/her workshop and will then receive a specific methodology.
Origin of PDT
Play with what is there, go back to the origins of the games.
How does a Scholas educator teach?
We can all educate if we have passion!
Play for the Children!
Passion as an educational engine is not only taught but also transmitted. We are also responsible for the future generations!
Learning Icebreakers Games. Modes and types.
Game and sport. Differences and similarities. Sports in our lives.
Practice “PDT Back to the origin”
In groups, students will receive a series of recycled or previously used materials with which they will have to make the necessary accessories to be able to play, each group will create its own "rag ball”, according to the sport chosen.
Testing of the games with recycled materials.
Each group will invite the others to play!
Workshop for Childrens planning. Defining materials after test and final planification of the activity with children.
Youth as leaders of younger generations!!
Warm-up! Icebreakers to initiate playing!
The children will have to make with their own hands the accessories to develop the sport.
Students will become referees of the sport played with the recycled materials.
We will invite children to reflect on their experience with questions that allow them to realize the importance of playing
If you are interested in participating in PDT
If you have any questions feel free to contact
[email protected]
Scholas USA was established in 2020 as a 501c3 Tax-Exempt NonProfit Organization. Tax ID 84-5101258
Educational program for the formation of high school students
We aim to bring students closer to their immediate reality through a scheme that rescues the importance of participation and social, civic and political commitment.
The program seeks to bring them closer to their community from a constructive perspective, where young people become creators of projects that respond to problems and allow for change in their community.
Scholas Occurrentes Pedagogy believes that education is built from the harmony of three languages: The head, the heart and the hands. This philosophy is at the core of Scholas work and specially shown at the Scholas Citizenship Program.
It is essential to depart from what is in the heart of young people.
Once the youth have identified an issue, knowledge comes into play.
Young people must also take action to create positive change.
We teach young people the importance of coming together, listening to each other, and respecting one another.
Implemented in 2019 in Ponce de Leon High School, in Miami, Florida. students from 9 High Schools (North Miami, Miami Edison, Miami Beach, Westland Hialeah, Ronald Reagan, Coral Gables, Miami Southridge, Miami Sunset and Cutler Bay) participated. Choosing the issue of Mental Health and Gun Violence as the topics to work on their projects.
Implemented in May 2023, students accompanied by their teacher chaperones, from four (4) local Catholic high schools in Los Angeles representing diverse neighborhoods in the city. The studentsvoted to dissect the issue of Mental Health in their respective communities focusing on the effects at home, school, and on social media.
Scholas Citizenship in New York on June 2023 had more than 80 young people from 8 High Schools of New York. The issue selected was Social Media Abuse. And they addressed it through three projects regarding: Addiction to Social Media by students; the problem of fitting in and self-esteem issue that produces social media in teenagers; and the miss-use of technology through inappropriate content.
The civic engagement curriculum, Communities in Motion, was implemented in a two-day program for 75 students form Los Angeles from 9 High Schools of the County of Los Angeles -both public and private schools-.
The students, from diverse backgrounds, gathered together and selected as the two main issues to work on immigration and mental health. Creating from these statements and an agenda presented to Supervisor Lindsey Horvath from Los Angeles County.
In order to fulfill our mission of having students from the most diverse social backgrounds participating, Scholas offers its programs ENTIRELY FOR FREE for Students and Teachers.
If you are interested in donating for our programs in Africa and Latina America you can also make your donation here or visit www.scholasoccurrentes.org
Scholas USA was established in 2020 as a 501c3 Tax-Exempt NonProfit Organization. Tax ID 84-5101258
Universidad del Sentido invites us to place the human person at the heart of education, embracing their uniqueness and wholeness.
Against the backdrop of the global crisis of the pandemic facing humanity in the year 2020, Pope Francis celebrated that Scholas gave birth to a new University 'intended for students from all backgrounds, languages, and beliefs so that no one is left out when what is taught is not things, but life itself'.
The Universidad del Sentido invites us to place the human person at the center of education in their uniqueness and integrity. It promotes the development of soft skills and the recovery of transcendent meaning in today's culture through intertwined formal and informal educational experiences and processes guided by an anthropological perspective that harmoniously combines the language of the mind with that of the heart and hands. The University is committed to complementing and strengthening the current public-private university system from this perspective.
In order to fulfill our mission of having students from the most diverse social backgrounds participating, Scholas offers its programs ENTIRELY FOR FREE for Students and Teachers.
If you are interested in donating for our programs in Africa and Latina America you can also make your donation here or visit www.scholasoccurrentes.org
Scholas USA was established in 2020 as a 501c3 Tax-Exempt NonProfit Organization. Tax ID 84-5101258