In February, one of Cooperative for Education’s (CoEd’s) newest Computer Program schools, Teczion, proudly inaugurated its new Computer Center. As teachers, students, CoEd staff, and supporters came together; excitement filled the air.

But one student, in particular, stood out among the crowd. It was Allan: a tech-savvy Teczion student who took on the task of live-streaming the entire event for his school’s social media, doing so with only a cell phone, a selfie stick, and a smile.

And he didn’t miss a beat; even amongst all the action, Allan captured every moment of the event from start to finish, only taking a break to chat with some of CoEd’s staff. (Watch Allan’s live stream from Teczion’s Facebook page here!)

Although his love of social media might make him sound like your typical teenager, Allan is anything but. Instead of mindlessly scrolling on social media for large parts of the day (like many of us are guilty of), he spends his spare time tinkering with computers and learning new software programs.

“I have a Facebook account, an Instagram account; obviously, I have my cell phone right here,” he says, laughing. “But most of the time, I like to program. I don’t like to share some memes, you know? I prefer to program…I have learned some programming languages. For example: C++, C#, HTML, CSS, JavaScript; and it’s a really interesting experience.”

Although access to technology is ubiquitous for most of us, it’s less common in Guatemala, particularly in rural communities. However, Allan was quite fortunate to have access to his parents’ computer at a young age. Despite the limitations of not having access to the internet at the time, Allan was able to learn a great deal, with dreams of becoming a systems engineer in the future. He even taught himself a bit of English by playing Mario on his parents’ computer.

“Super Mario 64 was my first video game, and that’s why I learned a little bit of English because I had it on my mind, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing.’ So I think that I have to understand ‘what is this game telling me?’”

Thanks to the new computer equipment provided by CoEd and your support, Allan’s classmates now face fewer technology limitations too. Allan expressed how the new Computer Center has been “a blessing” to him and his fellow students.

“Most of the students in this area don’t have access to computers. And for example, if I tell someone, ‘Okay, so please turn on the computer and open Word,’ they really don’t know how. And with the project, they are going to learn.”

In addition to studying electronics in school, Allan has started working as a technology teacher helping elementary students.

“They just call and tell me, ‘I didn’t know how to turn on a computer, but you taught me how.’ And I think that it’s going to be a really interesting experience for them to know how to use computers, and knowing how to use computers is going to help them to make easy that starting process.”

As much as Allan loves learning about technology, he loves teaching just as much.

“When I teach, I learn a lot. I learn with them.”

Allan proves that your generosity will continue to transform these communities through education, affording more and more students the same opportunity to learn, grow, and pass on their knowledge to others.

Interested in helping bring computers to a Guatemalan school in need?