Elvira is Maya Kaqchikel, 18 years old, and from the rural village of Los Jiatz, Sololá in Guatemala. She is one of eight siblings, and full of “firsts.”  Elvira joined the first cohort of students at MAIA Impact School in 2017.  In 2021, she became the first woman in her family to graduate from high school. In 2022, she joined the first cohort of MAIA’s Project Launch with the goal of continuing her personal, vocational, and academic formation and her trajectory. 

“Since I was a child, I have had to work in order to pay for my studies. This is why I am such a strong supporter of women's education. I know that educated women can create a more prosperous and equal Guatemala.” – Elvira 

Since she was young, her goal has been to study political science and work in community development, women’s education, and peace and conflict management. However, her ambitions do not end there. Elvira aspired to be a global learner. With university access coaching and support provided through MAIA’s University Access and Scholarship Coach, Elvira applied to become a SHE CAN scholar, a highly competitive 4-year, full-tuition scholarship program to study at a US university for a select group of young women leaders from around the world who demonstrate academic excellence and community engagement. 

As part of her rigorous application process, Elvira passed her TOEFL and SAT exams and designed and led her own community project "Green Mind, Green Life" that trained 14 community youth and adults in sustainable practices, worked with the local government to open a new garbage collection route through her community, and organized a community cleanup.

In May 2022, Elvira was thrilled to learn that she was selected as a 2022 SHE CAN scholarship recipient. Another first! 

In 2022, MAIA piloted an innovative "Launch Year" program to prepare Impact School graduates for success beyond secondary school.  Placed between the last year of high school and college/ work placement, the “gap year” program involves professional skill development, university coaching, and workplace experience.

In collaboration with local universities and business partners, Launch Year coaches accompany Girl Pioneers in navigating the university admission process and scholarships and provide workplace readiness training. 

During the 2022 pilot of Launch Year:

• 25 Girl Pioneers applied for university scholarships and 10 secured university scholarships for the 2023 school year. 
• Of these, 5 Girl Pioneers received full-ride scholarships, and 1 Girl Pioneer was Central America’s first and only RISE global award recipient. A second Girl Pioneer is a 2022 SHE CAN scholarship recipient and will continue her university studies in the US.
• 27 Girl Pioneers are conducting or have completed a formal, 5-month internship, gaining key workplace experience and skills.
• 6 Girl Pioneers secured formal employment, with 10 in the application process.
• Girl Pioneers received 295 hours of workplace training, including 7 formal certification courses: soft skills, hard skills, civic participation, financial literacy/taxes, Excel, personal branding, and job readiness.
• Girl Pioneers received over 100 hours of workplace English and over 40 hours of IT training.

To achieve a gender-just society, education needs to be transformed to teach the lessons of equality, ethics, and service alongside language, math, and science. Mona’s grassroots partners are leading this transformation. 

What does transformational education look like?  Mona’s newest partner organization, MAIA Impact School in Guatemala, provides an instructive case study. In March 2022, a team from Mona Foundation visited this impressive program, the first female, Indigenous-led secondary school in Central America serving the most marginalized segment of their society: indigenous Maya girls.  The students, who enter the school in Grade 7, are called “Girl Pioneers” because they are blazing a new trajectory towards prosperity and equal opportunity, despite being born into situations of quadruple discrimination as rural, poor, female, and Indigenous.

The Impact School is redefining the word “school” through a holistic educational model that gives equal emphasis to academics, culture and identity, socioemotional development, and family engagement.

As a result of the pandemic, public education in Guatemala was interrupted for nearly two years, widening the existing academic gap of Girl Pioneers entering the Impact School at Grade 7.

When the school resumed in-person learning in March 2022, helping prepare the incoming Girl Pioneers for success in secondary school was a top priority. The school re-designed and piloted its year-long academic leveling program "Project Impulso" (impulso means momentum in Spanish)  to reinforce key areas like English, technology, math, reading, language arts, and vocal empowerment. 

50 new Girl Pioneers attended full-day classes and received monthly home visits from mentors, establishing an academic foundation and assuring their families were committed to their education. The girls initially tested at 3rd-grade math and 3rd to 4th-grade reading comprehension levels. By November 2022, the test results found:

• Girl Pioneer Lexile scores increased an average of 76%, and 44% of Girl Pioneers achieved reading comprehension scores that measure at a secondary school level education. 
• In math, nearly 50% of Girl Pioneers achieved proficiency, with an average increase of nearly 2 academic years.
• In 2022, Project Impulso maintained a 98% retention rate.