Students in the school's Hispanic honor society are raising funds through The Pulsera Project, which supports fair-trade employment and community programs in Guatemala and Nicaragua. Sales end Friday.

Organ Mountain News report

LAS CRUCES - Students at Mayfield High School are turning colorful, handmade bracelets into an opportunity to support artisans in Guatemala and Nicaragua while learning about the cultures and communities behind their work.

Members of Mayfield's Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica, or Hispanic honor society, are selling handwoven bracelets known as pulseras through Friday, Nov. 6, as part of The Pulsera Project, a nonprofit organization that promotes fair-trade employment and cultural education.

The bracelets are being sold before school and during lunch, with proceeds supporting artisans and community programs in Central America.

Connecting students with artisans

Each bracelet takes approximately an hour to make and includes a tag featuring a photograph and signature of the artisan who created it.

The tags give students an opportunity to learn about the people behind the products, connecting individual craftsmanship with the economic and cultural circumstances of communities in Guatemala and Nicaragua.

According to Las Cruces Public Schools, The Pulsera Project provides fair-trade employment for more than 200 artisans and directs proceeds from sales at participating U.S. schools toward initiatives benefiting artisans, their families and their communities.

Those initiatives include educational scholarships, housing programs, environmental projects, disability advocacy, workers' rights and community development.

The organization has worked with nearly 4,000 school communities across all 50 states since its founding in 2009, according to the district.

Learning beyond the classroom

For Mayfield's Hispanic honor society, the sale combines fundraising with an opportunity to explore Latin American culture and the experiences of people living in Central America.

The Pulsera Project encourages participating schools to incorporate cultural education into their sales, helping students understand how fair-trade employment can affect individuals, families and communities.

Student and teacher volunteers organize the sales, which support the nonprofit's ongoing work in Guatemala and Nicaragua.

Mayfield's sale continues through Friday, Nov. 6.

Those interested in supporting the project can contact Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica sponsor Itzel Rosales at irosales@lcps.net or co-sponsor Estela Guerra at eguerra@lcps.net or 575-649-9287.