Behind-the-Scenes at a Textbook School

Overwhelmed. Hopeful. Overjoyed. This is what you’ve told us you felt after visiting your first Textbook School on a CoEd tour. So, how do the students feel? How about their parents? Their teachers? CoEd staff member and tour guide extraordinaire, Juan Pablo (pictured...

Jennifer: Breaking the Cycle of Poverty

Last year, at the age of 13, Jennifer made a very difficult decision. In 2018, she would drop out of school and go to work so that she could help her father and mother support her, her five siblings, and her precious nieces and nephews. Jennifer had studied through...

Riding with Augusto

While in Guatemala on a project tour this February, I got to climb into a truck with one of our Textbook Program Coordinators and ask him about his work. Augusto Bal is a jolly, Mayan grandpa of a man whose presence immediately calms and gladdens the heart. He has 23...

Santa Lucia: A School of Poets

In February, 31 volunteers travelled to Guatemala with us and helped Santa Lucía middle school celebrate the inauguration of their Textbook Program. It was a momentous occasion, filled with sunshine, laughter, music, dancing, and some very important words spoken by...

Orlando Chile Bucú: Turning Skills into Success

“Tonight, please complete the even problems on page 268 and show up ready to compare your work with a partner’s tomorrow.” Many of us recognize these words as a typical end to a typical math class. But for students in rural Guatemala, there is nothing typical about...

Our Newest Textbook Program Teachers Sound Off

This year our Textbook Program expanded to 16 new middle schools in the regions of El Quiché, Chimaltenango, Sacatepéquez, Quetzaltenango, Totonicapán, and Sololá. In June we surveyed the teachers at these schools to get their thoughts on how the program has begun to...