Announcing Ruta de Vida: a free guide to plan your education and career

If you finish sixth grade in a rural community near Copán Ruinas, what comes next? High school, a trade school, a job? The answer is not always clear — especially when no one in your family has walked that path before.

That is the question Ruta de Vida tries to answer.

What is Ruta de Vida

Ruta de Vida is a program by IPA-Copan —the Honduran counterpart of the International Project Alliance— in partnership with the Rotary Club of Copán Ruinas. Its purpose is to help students from rural communities make informed decisions about their education and professional future.

At the heart of the program is a free guide. The second edition, published in 2026, is now available: you can read it as a web section or download the full book as a PDF at /en/ruta-de-vida/.

What it covers

The guide is organized around the decision points every student faces:

• After sixth grade: how to enter secondary school, what the requirements are, and what scholarships exist.
• After ninth grade: the choice between continuing high school, attending a trade school like ETAOO, or entering the workforce.
• After twelfth grade: university, technical school, or work — and how to decide among them.
• Trade schools in the area: what ETAOO offers, which costs scholarships cover, and how to enroll.
• Résumé and employment: how to write a résumé, look for work, and understand the basics of labor law.
• Managing money: goal-setting, budgeting, saving, and avoiding impulse spending.

This is not a theoretical manual. It is written for the specific context of students in rural communities around Copán, with local examples and resources.

What else the program includes

The written guide is only one part. Ruta de Vida also offers:

• Social media groups for secondary school, trade school, and university students, where announcements are shared and students can connect with each other.
• Personalized guidance from the program team on résumés, job searches, or housing — anyone who needs help can reach out through the contact page.
• An artificial intelligence resource as a private advisor on education and career topics.

A guide that grows

This second edition reflects what the program has learned from working directly with students on the ground. It is not a document that gets published and shelved: the web pages will expand with new topics such as health, scholarships, job interviews, and entrepreneurship.

If you are a student, a parent, or a teacher in a rural community near Copán, we invite you to explore the guide. It is free, and it was made for you.

Access the full guide at /en/ruta-de-vida/, where you can read each topic online or download the complete book as a PDF.