Guatemala
Ana Lorena Barrios Calderon (11-12) is in her fourth year of college in Business Administration, after which she plans to apply for a Master’s Degree. She has volunteered with a church by collecting clothes for the needy and often lends her voluntary support in a business consultancy. Renato Jose Conedera Navas (11-12) received a scholarship to continue his Mechanical Engineering studies in the US at his former host institution during his UGRAD year. He got a part time job as a research assistant at the physics department in a laboratory and also does community service providing after-school guidance to a group of young Hmong people.
Diego Raul Guzman Verbena (11-12) earned a college degree in middle school music education and is one year away from obtaining his Bachelor’s Degree in Arts and Music. He also co-founded a new Department of State alumni association with other fellow UGRADs from previous years and in coordination with the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala. Their goal is to provide funds for small community projects across the country.
Diego was also featured on World Learning’s Now Blog in January after composing an original piece of music “Angels Landing” inspired by a visit to Zion National Park in Utah.
Aida Teresa Lopez del Valle (11-12) continues to work on her psycho-pedagogy degree at her home university as well as volunteer at her church’s Sunday school. She obtained a certificate to teach Spanish as a second language and also works at a school as an English principal. Ricardo Antonio Rodriguez (11-12) is one semester away from graduating from his home university. He just started an internship at a government agency that offers counseling to foreign investors called “Invest in Guatemala.”
Luisa Fernanda Torres Gramajo (11-12) recently graduated and is currently working at a company where she’s applying what she learned. She keeps in touch with all the international friends she made during her UGRAD experience and encourages other students to apply to the program.
Haiti
Nathalie Rodnez (11-12) was recently hired at CONATEL, a national telecommunications regulatory agency in Haiti. She interviewed for an internship position and was instead offered a full-time position! This is a very exciting position for her and she wished to add that “they would probably not think about giving me that position if I had not mentioned my experiences with World Learning, particularly the opportunity with the Alumni Engagement Initiative, the World Learning Project Design course and especially the experience I had from implementing my own project.”