More than thirty secondary and higher education centers, both public and private, from within and outside the island, vocational training companies, associations, business entities, and others with educational offerings and high employability have gathered this week at CIFP Zonzamas to provide content and substance to the professional opportunities exhibition "Planéate Lanzarote 2025".
In its tenth edition as a benchmark meeting place for advising students who are changing cycles, more than 3,000 students have toured the venue, shown interest in the educational and academic proposals, and participated in the "Project Your Future Career" mini-talk sessions, given by the University Foundation of Las Palmas, in practical professional performance workshops, and in presentations by the Canary Islands School of Actors.
The Councilor for Education and Inclusive Employment, Ascensión Toledo, highlighted the positive evaluations of the participating entities and the interest of the students as they passed through the exhibition, "which confirms the merit and success of this fair, dedicated to showcasing the tools our youth need to build their best future," she stated.
Similarly, conversations with families have been a central focus of support in "Planéate", given that the choice of educational path is a decision made in consensus in homes. Thanks to the interventions of Antonio Sánchez (ULPGC) and Rosalía Mendoza (ULL), families learned all sorts of details about the process towards university, and an important fact to keep in mind: "vocation is built".
Additionally, the Councilor for Education wanted to incorporate into this edition of the program a chapter dedicated to educational and job placement options for people with functional diversity, "a fundamental area if we want to progress towards more equitable communities with equal opportunities."
The representatives of Inserta Empleo, the ONCE Foundation, and the NGOs Adislan and Adepsis, called as one voice for resources, facilities, and support for the job placement of people with functional disabilities, as a formula to advance towards normalized lives within an egalitarian society. Their entities already do this: according to the data provided, Inserta facilitated a total of 1112 hires in the Canary Islands in 2024; Adislan promoted 56 jobs on this island alone, and Adepsis accounted for 87 in its projects in Gran Canaria and Lanzarote.
Exemplary Trajectories in Serendipia
Next, Brian González, Alejandro Jiménez, Gio Santana, and Alyssa Unwin, with the moderation of the writer and social entrepreneur, Amalia Fajardo, lavished on the stage of the Serendipia meeting great doses of common sense and responsibility, enthusiasm for the future, and a desire to share their life projects.
Brian González, recently graduated in Early Childhood and Primary Education Teaching, with a specialty in attention to diversity, declared himself professionally and emotionally willing to "help people". Alyssa Unwin, who is studying the first course of professional diving at the School of Fisheries, acknowledged the masculinization of her career but faces learning with the intention of making a place for herself and demonstrating her worth.
Alejandro Jiménez, who went through the path of intermediate and higher FP and ended with a job that makes him happy, invited students not to give in to discouragement and to seek their vocation. Finally, Guio Santana, a young woman with hearing impairment, graduated in Design and a student of a master's degree in Marketing and Communication, showed overwhelming optimism, defended tenacity as an engine for success, and assured that there are no barriers when convictions are deep.
The evening ended with a musical flourish, by El Noah, Kevin Giraldo, and Beatriz, who have participated in the Picón Urbano project, promoted by the Department of Education of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, with the help of Amalia Fajardo.
Tribute to ECCA.EDU
On Thursday morning, "Planéate 2025" hosted the act of tribute and gratitude from the Cabildo of Lanzarote to ecca.edu, on its sixtieth birthday. Councilor Ascensión Toledo presented the commemorative plaque to the general director of the Foundation, José María Segura S.J., and praised the educational work of an organization "that, perhaps, we have taken for granted, so intimately inserted it is in our daily lives." "For 60 years, by monitoring or by the awareness of its work, many generations have incorporated into memory those broadcast classes that allowed, in an economic reality of enormous difficulty and in a fragmented territory, the training of thousands of people in our archipelago," she declared.
For his part, the head of the educational organization stated that, according to the latest research, "it was in 1963 when the Society of Jesus and the Government of the Canary Islands sealed the alliance that would bear fruit in more than six decades of teaching and more than three million students worldwide." He also appreciated that the recognition of ecca.edu was implemented in the context of "Planéate": "We love receiving this plaque surrounded by young students, who are part of our target audience." The Councilor for Welfare and Inclusion of the Cabildo, Marci Acuña, the Councilor for Education of Teguise, Mar Boronat, and the Island Director of Education, Carmen Pellón, joined the commemorative act.
