A Continued Commitment to Guatemala: Interview with Jeff Berninger

Joe and Jeff Berninger may not have known how things would unfold when they founded Cooperative for Education (CoEd) in 1996, but wow, are we glad they did! Starting from humble beginnings at a kitchen table in a tiny Guatemala City apartment, they launched CoEd with...

Dora María Cardenas Figueroa: A Classroom Transformed

Before the Culture of Reading Program (CORP) arrived at Agua Dulce school, Dora María’s classroom looked like most other first- and second-grade classrooms in rural Guatemala. There were no storybooks, just a whiteboard and some markers. Dora María used the teaching...

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...

Sandra Capen: Hungering for Something Different

From a young age, Sandra Capen was motivated to get good grades by her parents—who sacrificed so much to educate their three children that the family sometimes went without food. Throughout grade school Sandra couldn’t eat lunch with her friends or purchase the school...

Florencio Fernando Teleguario: Dreamer to Be

We often tell stories of students with big dreams and students who have made their dreams reality, thanks to your support and CoEd’s innovative programs. The truth is, many of these students started off without a dream—many of them thought a life of toil and poverty...

Brenda Sequen Cux: Discovering a New World

Brenda’s heart leapt as she rounded the corner and saw green and white streamers fluttering above her school. Why? It was inauguration day for El Aguacate Cooperative School’s first ever Computer Center, and she couldn’t wait to get her hands on a computer! She knew...