Nicaragua Telpochapa Project

Project History

In August 2009, EWB–UH identified several opportunities to work with the village of Telpochapa, a town situated north of Lake Managua. We were involved in a town meeting to prioritize their needs and evaluate available resources and the feasibility of projects. We came to the conclusion that a school house is a suitable one.

During March 2010, a team of 5 students and one working engineer conducted a Site Assessment trip for the school. The objectives were to collect cultural information and detailed technical data about the project. The team also obtained possible designs from civil engineers in Managua. One of the team members, Katrina Zick, went on to be project leader.

Project Currently

We are now designing the school house. We will do structural analysis on the site and the building itself. We will then submit the design to EWB-USA to be approved. Currently we have 10 members working actively on the project, ranging from freshman to junior with disciplines ranging from biomedical to civil engineering.

Project Future

Our goal is to have the implementation trip on Spring Break, when members active on the project would be able to see their hard works come to fruition. We also plan to perform assessment on different projects for the community such as an irrigation system and electrical system for the school. We plan to have at least a 5 year commitment with the community according to EWB-USA’s policy.