Transforming Education
writer: ryan richards
photographer: john abernathy
(story synopsis)
|
Jorge Chojolán introduces the new preschool/kindergarten teacher to a classroom of students at the Miguel Angel Asturias Academy. |
Jorge Chojolán was born a poor, indigenous Mayan in Guatemala’s deeply racist society. His situation suggested that Jorge would complete few, if any, years of formal schooling and passively accept the constraints of his stratified society. However, through his perseverance, Jorge earned a university degree and continued on to found the Miguel Angel Asturias Academy (the Academy), a rapidly growing nonprofit educational institution in Guatemala’s second largest city, Quetzaltenango.
Named after the Nobel Prize winning Guatemalan author, the Miguel Angel Asturias Academy offers solid academics and innovative teaching methods to 200 students from pre-school through 12th grade. Many are among Guatemala’s most vulnerable children: girls, the indigenous and the poor.
Jorge’s efforts to address the country’s educational disparities have earned him national and international recognition. He is the first Guatemalan elected to the prestigious Ashoka Fellowship, distinguishing him as “a leading social entrepreneur ... an extraordinary individual with unprecedented ideas for change in his community.” |
Students sing a school hymn "Paz, Queremos Paz," or "Peace, We Want Peace" at an assembly. |
The Miguel Angel Asturias Academy
13 calle 24-43, Zona 3
Quetzaltenango
Guatemala
The Miguel Angel Asturias Academy-US
c/o Stone Church of the Brethren
1623 Moore Street
Huntingdon, PA 16652
USA
360.312.7679
info@asturiasacademy.org
www.asturiasacademy.org |
To order Issue 4 of NEED and receive the full story
>> click here
| next story |
|
(story synopsis)
ONE
WORK
GENEROSITY
HOME
FUTURE
HEALTH
COOPERATION
KIDS
DIALOGUE
CONTRIBUTORS
ORGANIZATIONS
Join us in continuing to tell the stories of hope and change
Give NEED a try with a FREE Preview Issue
Don't miss an issue
 |
