For the past 6 years Mission Encounters has provided the only English school on the island of Helene.  This past year we saw a growth of 40% and a total enrollment of 87 children.  Helene is an English speaking island, however to receive school grants in Honduras, education must be taught in Spanish.  Mission Encounters was noticing a difficulty in education when parents were unable to help their children with homework and children were required to do school work in a language they only spoke at school.  Helene Christian School is designed to work with the current Spanish schools on the island.  Children go to Spanish school in the morning, after lunch they walk over to HCS and have school in English.  Teachers are able to help students with their Spanish homework and teach them reading, writing, and math in their dominant language.  HCS originated as a missionary operated and missionary taught school, but over the past few years, the majority of jobs are held by islanders.  The school board is comprised of only islanders and currently there is only 1 missionary teacher, Mrs. Shiela Benson.