Meet the 2022 Guatemala Teacher Corps

Foothill College and Bay Area nonprofit Dream Volunteers have partnered again on the Guatemala Teacher Corps for winter and spring 2022. Due to the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic, the experience is a bit different this year.

Although students are currently unable to travel to Antigua to teach English to students at a K-12 school, the Teacher Corps is teaching virtually for winter and may travel in the spring if it is safe to do so.

The Teacher Corps is funded through the Foothill-De Anza Foundation.

Meet Our Teachers!

Arielle

My name is Arielle Seepersad and I am majoring in biological sciences. I am currently taking classes at both De Anza and Foothill with the goal of transferring to a 4-year college in fall 2022. I hope to go back to school and study child development after I get my first bachelor's.

I have always focused on working with children, especially as a babysitter and volunteer tutor for the Bay Area Tutoring Association (BATA). To bring biology and child development together, I am considering being a pediatrician or educating children. When I saw the opportunity for this internship, I was really excited to be able to teach in a place where I can also learn from. I have always wanted to eventually speak Spanish fluently, and I have practiced for the past couple of years. I am excited to be in a place where I can further expand my knowledge while surrounding myself with a culture that I can learn from.

 

Jayme

I am an Umoja student, student activist, and English major planning to transfer in fall 2022, with experience tutoring elementary and middle school students locally in Mountain View and as an after-school Site Liasion.

As a Teacher Corps volunteer, I will spend mornings virtually with Guatemalan students and afternoons in person tutoring students in Mountain View. I am grateful and excited about this opportunity to teach English virtually because it will prepare me to teach English to non-English speakers, which is my plan after finishing my bachelor's degree in English literature.

 

Kaitlyn

Coming from a family where my parents immigrated to America knowing little to no English, I have watched my parents struggle to communicate when using their second language — often asking me for grammar tips or the correct pronunciation of words. I applied to this program to balance the scales a little bit.

It is incredibly important for me to be part of something that motivates young, receptive minds to latch onto one of the most spoken languages in the world, which could later foster new connections, knowledge and opportunities.

After attending Worcester Polytechnic Institute for a year, I am in my first year at Foothill College. I hope to transfer to a four-year university with a major in communications as a path to working in the media industry.

 

Nova

My name is Nova Moody and I am one of the lucky people to be chosen for the 2021-2022 teaching scholarship. I am a full-time student working two jobs at the moment. I have big dreams and many goals for myself and am excited that this opportunity is a step forward in the right direction. In regards to my future, I want to transfer to Stanford and eventually go into law. While I am in school I want to pursue a side interest I have in video making and start a small business. I am very grateful for this opportunity.

 

Sarai

I am very excited to be a part of this program. It was very important for me to join because I want to be an educator in the future, and I thought that this would be a great place for me to start.

Given that this program is connected to Guatemala, I felt a strong need to join because of my Guatemalan heritage. Through this program, I have the opportunity to give back to my community and find a new way to connect with my culture. I also wanted to step out of my comfort zone and learn what it is to be a teacher. After spending most of my life in school and doing some tutoring, I have an idea of what it will be, but I will never truly know if I don’t try.