Type Jesuit, Catholic Nickname ETE Founded 1959 | Gender Coeducational Website ETE FMC | |
Established 1959; 58 years ago (1959) | ||
FMC Electronic Technical School is located in Santa Rita do Sapucai, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Founded in 1959 by "Dona" Moreira and placed under the direction of the Society of Jesus, FMC ETE was the first school of electronics in Latin America, giving rise to Brazil's Electronics Valley.
Contents
History
"Dona" Sinha Moreira (Luzia Rennó Moreira, 1907-1963) envisioned a better future for the people in the rural area of her birth, Santa Rita do Sapucai. She was the wealthy daughter of a senator and niece of Delfim Moreira, President of the Republic. During world travels with her diplomat husband she was impressed by the technology of the time in Japan. In 1959 she founded the first school of electronics in Latin America, the Francisco Moreira da Costa Electronics Technical School, named for her father. It gave rise to Electronics Valley, in the same vein as Silicon Valley in the United States. This gradually transformed the local culture from agrarian to an electronics and information technology center. It was reported in 2014 that the Valley employed about 14,000 workers in 153 businesses, manufacturing 13,700 products.
Dona died soon after construction began on the school. She says in her will "The poor taught me the great lessons of life." And it was from her ITA teachers at São José dos Campos that she had conceived the idea for the school. She left the school board in the hands of the Jesuits, who are still its directors and strive to follow the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm which would pursue academic and humanistic excellence.
ETE occupies a large campus which includes a swimming pool and track.
Technical
Students take technical courses along with regular courses for a three-year high school education. The first two years offer a core curriculum and in the third students specialize in one of the following areas.
DESIGN fair has since 1981 given ETE students an incentive and opportunity to showcase innovative projects. About 800 students develop around 200 projects, the best of which are entered in the Brazilian Fair of Science and Engineering at the University of São Paulo. Over the years students have won 66 awards, national and international, for their innovations.
Scholarships
Adolescents, young people, and low-income adults can receive financial aid for tuition and other needs through FIA, the state-sponsored Childhood and Adolescence Fund. Brazilians can designate on their individual or corporate income tax form a percentage to go to this program.
Integral education
Ignatian spirituality. Each Wednesday students and alumni meet to discuss their experience of faith in the light of Ignatian spirituality. This creates lasting ties between the participants and helps form Ignatian leaders. Also, on a weekend day students meet to reflect on Ignatian spirituality, encompassing themes like Jesus Christ, Ignatian discernment, poverty, apostleship, community, and the purpose of life itself. Then semiannually students, staff, teachers, and community stakeholders gather for an Ignatian Forum, to reflect on a topic previously chosen in line with the theme of that year. The Forum can be in the form of lecture, experience report, video, or round tables, always culminating in the sharing of ideas and experiences. The purpose is to produce leaders who can engage in their communities as Christians committed to working for a more just and fraternal society.
Retreats. These are offered for the teachers and employees twice a year, at Our Lady of Peace retreat house on the school campus. And one day each semester classes are interrupted for a retreat featuring reflection, group work and recreation, and the Eucharistic celebration. Also, a retreat is offered during the three days of Easter Triduum, open to the school and wider community. The paschal celebration includes the TAETEC group (Amateur Theatre Group ETE) performing the stations of the cross with the resurrection, in a way relevant to the life of the young.
Service. SolidariETE has for 25 years found students, staff, teachers, and families mobilized to seek donations for needy people at the Asylum and City Hospital. Delivering the donations offers a time of sharing with the elderly in conversation, laughter, music, and offering small services like manicure and snacks. Also, for the young, by arrangement with the Municipal Education Network, students at ETE meet with classes 4 and 5 at area schools to share with them and to be role models for using their talents to the full. Since 2016 the students have run a program to involve city children in various sports contests, as an educational vehicle.
Culture. "The Child Goes to the Theatre" is a program in partnership with the local Department of Education offering cultural enhancement especially for youngsters in the area. Over a recent 4-year period 11 plays and a film entitled "Creative City, Happy City" were presented, along with smaller artistic offerings.
Sustainability. Environmental education is included in the curriculum and extracurricular projects. During the Fair of Technological Projects, design students develop technology projects for sustainability. Other projects included planting of 370 seedlings on the banks of the Rio Sapucai and, in 2014, a LED lighting system was installed in the laboratory.