During the month of September there are plenty of reasons to celebrate in the community of Coscomatepec in Veracruz Mexico. Not only is the month of Mexico’s national day, which gives the name to the local school; it also is the month in which 16 de Septiembre School completed construction and is ready to benefit more than 200 young students.

The school’s opening ceremony consisted in a big party highlighting colorful Mexican local culture and had the illustrious presence of Petra Nemcova and Xavier de Uriarte, representatives of the sponsoring entities Happy Hearts Fund and Sura Mexico. The opening was also attended by the Governor of Veracruz, the Mayor of Coscomatepec, and Instituto de Espacios Educativos de Veracruz authorities (educational infrastructure for Veracruz), among other authorities.

Design fellow Diego Collazos just got back from the Structures for Inclusion conference in Austin, Texas, where he presented his work in Latin America rebuilding disaster-stricken schools for Happy Hearts & SURA. Not that he'd have much of a break following the conference, as the next series of school projects begin rolling into construction. Get the latest from our award-winning Design Fellow:

Reported by Diego Collazos

The school rebuilding program starts 2012 with great impulse as the Divino Jesus School in Peru and Sumate’s School in Lota-Chile will both start construction any time soon. Also there is a good [prospect of an agreement] with the educational authorities in order to transfer the program to Veracruz in Mexico, a region that is constantly affected by floods and extreme rain.

Three design teams were recognized by the 2012 Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED) competition. Maria Auxiliadora School in Ica, Peru, was named one of three international winners. The Kimisagara Football for Hope Center in Kigali, Rwanda, and Fresh Moves Mobile Market in Chicago, USA, were named honorable mentions.

There were a lot of reasons to celebrate as construction was completed at Maria Auxiliadora School just in time for the big opening celebration in which Happy Hearts Fund chairwoman Petra Nemcova and AFP Integra (ING Peru) President Jorge Ramos were present to mark the beginning of the activities at the new school.

The opening ceremony was a moment of joy for the community as they prepared a few activities including live music, traditional dancing and an offering of gifts for the visitors to welcome all participants to the event. The school’s community is very proud of their new home and feels that their building not only looks beautiful and welcoming, but will first and foremost improve the education of their children.

Congratulations to Happy Hearts Fund, ING and INTEGRA for successfully completing construction of the Francisco Perez Anampa School in Tate, Peru, which will benefit 160 local students. The school was affected by the 2007 earthquake in the Ica region and Architecture for Humanity provided architectural support throughout the construction of the new facility. Recently the community celebrated the completion of the school with a big gathering which featured visitors from several of the joint partners.