Support literacy and learning for 1,900 Maya youth

In this update, we’d like to share about the progress of our third-year middle school scholars who will be starting high school next January, as the preparations are starting now! Thanks to your generous contributions, we are able to provide scholars with substantial support to prepare for this transition!

In Guatemala, students entering high school choose a “career” to study and receive a specialized technical degree. To help them with this big, important decision, we recently hosted a two-part workshop series on choosing a career. The first workshop was very hands on, involving the scholars researching the different degrees they were interested in. They were able to reflect on what kind of people they are and how their personalities would fit with the types of careers they are interested in. Scholars with similar interests worked together in a group to research a kind of degree. They looked up the different schools that offered that degree, where the schools were located, and the type of personalities that fit well with the career. A highlight included youth discovering their interests in careers as nurses, electricians, and bilingual secretaries!

To provide another level of information to support their decision-making, the second part of the series was a career panel, which included people from the community who have the degrees scholars are interested in pursuing. These included accounting, medicine, computer science, bilingual secretary, physical education, electrician, and literature and sciences, which is a general college-prep degree. Our scholars had many important questions for our terrific group of panelists, such as how long it would take to complete each degree and the cost of tuition and scholarship options. Panelists shared their personal experiences including the reasons they chose their specific degree, what they liked about it, and what job opportunities exist in the Chajul area and around Guatemala for people with that degree.

We also had a special guest speaker who studied primary education in high school but decided to pursue a university degree in agricultural engineering. This was to make sure our scholars know that it’s okay if they end up changing their minds and choosing a different educational and/or career path different from their technical degree. The panelists offered very helpful advice and insight which was inspiring for scholars. One panelist offered the following wise suggestion, “Don’t choose a degree that all of your friends are choosing just so you can all study together, but rather choose one that you really enjoy and make that decision with your heart.” We know that our scholars will take to heart the advice and information provided by our terrific panelists, as well as the other knowledge they’ve gained throughout their middle school years with Limitless Horizons Ixil, to confidently make the best decisions for their next step into high school!

We are thankful for the continued support you give Limitless Horizons Ixil so that we can provide meaningful supports like these to our youth as they make important, life-changing decisions and pursue higher levels of education to achieve their professional goals. Supporters like you make their dreams into reality. Thank you.

This update we’d like to share about our library team, which has been able to grow and develop in recent months thanks to your generous contributions and support. At Limitless Horizons Ixil, having a great team and investing in our staff and interns’ professional growth and development is an important part of our work—not only building our ability to serve the community through meaningful library services, but also developing our team’s own capacity and skills as young professionals as they grow into Chajul’s next generation of leaders and professionals. Your support for our community library helps not only the young library members who visit on a daily basis, but also our library team’s professional development, and we’re very grateful for your important contributions to our work.

We recently welcomed Marina, a former Limitless Horizons Ixil scholar, to the library team. She spent her first few weeks learning about the library and how it functions, with the guidance of our head librarian David. As we have implemented new services such as tutoring hours, Marina has played a vital role in the library’s success. Every Tuesday we host tutoring for English, Wednesday is for math, and Thursday is for science. Marina is focused and attentive, which has helped the library better support its members. David noted that “the experience she gained in prior jobs helps her to relate well to library members and employees.” Marina enjoys her new position and shared that “I believe this job is important because we’re helping children learn how to read, and really making an impact”.

We also welcomed a new librarian intern, Elisa, through our Internship and Training Initiative. She is responsible and confident in all her work. To support the library’s overall goal of better organization, Elisa is working diligently to reorganize our many books. She is working with our other intern, Rosa, throughout the week to support the librarians and daily operations, all the while gaining skills and experience that will be crucial for her own future professional success. David shared that “Marina and Elisa have been quickly accepted into the library community and have gained the children’s trust.”

These new faces are contributing immensely to the community library’s overall goals of promoting learning and literacy within the community. Each team member brings something special to the library dynamic—David with his willingness to help and always with a bright smile on his face; Marina with her observant manner and patience; Rosa with her creativity and determination to see her work all the way through; and Elisa with her confidence and well-collected demeanor. The library team supports one another and they are working together to improve the services that Limitless Horizons Ixil offers to library members. Their energy and passion is reflected in the work they do every day for the library and community of Chajul. We are so excited to have them as such a fantastic part of the team!

And we are so grateful to you for your ongoing support that makes it possible for Limitless Horizons Ixil to hire, train, and support such a dynamic group of Chajul’s young leaders and enable them to give back to their community through the library. We couldn’t do it without you.