Welcome to our new series with CoEd staffer Katie Camillus. Katie spends several weeks of the year in Guatemala evaluating the programs and working with our program teams on the ground. She always hears incredible stories from the students and teachers and we want to share them with you during those seasons that she’s traveling around to the communities we help. Enjoy your first installation of Katie’s Field Reports.
Reyna Carol is another scholarship graduate who blew me away when we chatted last weekend. She’s one of ten kids whose single mother never even started school, but Reyna herself graduated last year with an accounting degree. She’s a scholarship graduate who is proving the impact of a CoEd scholarship extends beyond the recipient him/herself.
Reyna now works at a supermarket chain as a cashier – a well-paid position that she never would have gotten without her degree.
Reyna is not only a role model who is motivating her siblings to stay in school, she also helps them with their homework and pays their school fees from her salary. She came to tears as she told me how she’s struggled to encourage her brother with disabilities to continue his studies. When she was in school she suffered a bad accident and couldn’t sit for extended periods, but decided to stick with school. Her own experience serves as a beautiful example for him.
Meet the scholarship students that still need your help at www.cooperativeforeducation.or
Signing off from Guatemala,
Katie