language courses for the community in general, but
especially for the local Mexican children.
Another objective is to provide and maintain a part of the LCS
facilities for the main purpose of educating Mexican children, as
well as providing educational and informational programs for local Mexican
adults, usually the mothers. The
third objective is to provide financial assistance to deserving students
attending accredited schools, trade schools or universities in accordance
with LCS Policies and Procedures.
The ways in which these objectives are fulfilled are as follows:Facility: In 1999, Ed Wilkes’ home at 18 Calle Galeana became part of the LCS facilities. Several LCS volunteers realized the home would make an ideal education center for the Mexican community. The biblioteca and the English classes were moved to the Wilkes home. Other programs were added at later dates. Even though the technical name is the Lake Chapala Society Education Centers, the foreign community refers to it as the Wilkes Center and the Mexican community simply refers to it as the biblioteca.
Biblioteca: A Spanish-language reference, research and reading library (the only one in Ajijic). It also provides a place for students to do their homework in a quiet setting. Book circulation averages seventy-five users per day, reference and research, forty-five users per day. There are computers for students to use for homework and to learn to type in the biblioteca.
Computer Education: Sixty-five students participate in this
hands-on introduction to computers.
They are taught 10-finger keyboarding, basic Windows, MSWord,
Excel and the Internet. The
computer lab at the Wilkes Center has six computers. There is a computer satellite program
in San Nicolas in which about forty teenagers participate each year.
Children’s Art Education: Local artist Javier Zaragoza teaches this course on Saturday mornings. About twenty students take part in the program, receiving instruction in both watercolors and oils.
English as a Second Language: About one-hundred-fifty students participate in this very important program open to students from age thirteen on. Presently there are four levels being taught, as well as an advanced class and a conversation class. There is also a class for four-to-six year olds, a very successful pilot program.
Summer Program: Every summer since 1999 there has been a four-week remedial program. Mexican teachers teach the course and sixty children participate each year. It is for children in grades one through six who are experiencing difficulties in the public schools. Reading and writing are the main focus, but some math is also incorporated into the program. It is very unusual for a child to drop out of the program. Each summer the program has ended with a field trip to the Guadalajara Zoo.
The LCS Student Aid Fund provides financial assistance to Lakeside students.
Ed Wilkes: Upon retiring, Ed Wilkes and his wife Orul traveled extensively in Mexico after leaving the United States, and settled in Ajijic in the early 70’s. He was an avid reader from an early age. He joined the US Navy as a young man. He was stationed in Nicaragua where he was a hospital orderly and then an X-Ray technician. Around this time in his life, he contacted tuberculosis and was hospitalized for two years. His self-education began by reading everything within his reach. After he was discharged from the Navy, he married and settled in the Washington D.C. area. He and his wife were both civil service workers. He was very interested in education and helped some local students further their education. When he died in Ajijic in 1997, he willed his home to LCS.
Contact Information: Volunteers are always needed 
to help out at the Wilkes Education Center. Teaching experience is not required
to teach English--only a desire to help.
To teach computers, it is necessary to know Spanish and be computer
literate. If you wish to volunteer, please contact
Mary Alice Sargent at 766–0499 or e-mail director@lakechapalasociety.org