On November 20, 2017, Pascuala Alicia Och Ixmata became the first person in her family to graduate from high school—and the second ONE girl to graduate! Board members Leslie Grabel and Christa Sadler went to Guatemala to attend the graduation, and it was an amazing thing to meet Alicia and see how hard she has worked.

Alicia is a native speaker of Q’iche, one of the Mayan languages in Guatemala. So in order for her to make her way through school, first she had to to learn to speak Spanish. Many of the members of her family, especially the women, don’t. If they don’t work outside the home, they are not introduced to Spanish, so that was the first challenge she had to overcome. Next was money. That’s where all of YOU came in! We were able to put Alicia through high school, and she did so well. We couldn’t be prouder of her. Or more grateful to all of you for your donations to make this happen.

Alicia will be looking for work for the next year or so, in order to help her younger siblings in school. Then she wants to continue on to the university! Felicidades, Alicia, y mil gracias a todos nuestros donantes! (Thank you to all our donors, for helping make this possible).

We will have Alicia’s page up for a few more weeks, until she goes into our (growing!) “graduates” section, so please check out more photos and videos from our visit with Alicia.

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  Alicia Approaches the Stage from One New Education on Vimeo

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  Alicia getting ready for graduation

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  The national anthem

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  Alicia with her teacher, upon receiving her diploma

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  Maria attended the graduation with us, so she was there to see where she will be in five years!

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  Christa and Leslie congratulating Alicia on stage and giving her her graduation ring

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  Alicia with her parents, Don Manuel and Doña Manuela

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  Proud graduate

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  Very proud graduate

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  The obligatory graduation pictures!

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  Proud madrinas Leslie and Christa