Meet the Team

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Teachers

Jacinta Ceto Cobo

Daria Margarita Guzman Cedillo

Jacinta, who, along with Daria Margarita, helped create Mayan Hope ~15 years ago, serves as Principal, and teaches students ages 4-6. Jacinta was very involved, along with Daria Margarita, in the site selection and design process of the new school. She is motivated to tend to the needs of every student and help prepare them for life.

Daria Margarita Guzman Cedillo

Daria Margarita, who has been with Mayan Hope since the beginning, teaches students in the first, fifth and sixth grades. She was also very involved, along with Principal Jacinta, in the site selection and design process of the new school. She is motivated to prove those wrong who say that these kids could not achieve anything.

Magdalena Pastor Perez

Daria Margarita Guzman Cedillo

Magdalena Pastor Perez

Magdalena, who has been with Mayan Hope since 2014, teaches students in the first and fourth grades. She loves sharing with the children, and helping them handle any situation presented in life so that they can become independent.

Jacinta Ceto Marcos

Ofilia Catarina chel Raymundo

Magdalena Pastor Perez

Jacinta, who has been with Mayan Hope since 2015, teaches the second and third grade. She likes working with special needs students because they, more than other students, truly need the help of a teacher to help them move towards their future.

Ofilia Catarina chel Raymundo

Ofilia Catarina, who has been with Mayan Hope since 2015, teaches the first grade. She enjoys working at Mayan Hope because there are many ways to play with the children, such as puzzles and games, all of which help the students to grow.

Christian Brol Palacios

Ofilia Catarina chel Raymundo

Christian works part-time as a physical therapist for the school, helping improve the condition of those students enduring physical handicaps.

Board of Directors

Alex Sonageri

Javier Henriquez

Chairman

Alex was introduced to Mayan Hope in 2012 while volunteering in Guatemala with the Social Entrepreneur Corps. He joined the Dworschack's on Mayan Hope's Board in 2016 to develop a sustainable education solution for the school. Alex has supported nonprofit education since high school, when he co-founded the Rutgers University Emergency Scholarship Fund and raised approximately $100,000 for Rutgers students faced with sudden financial hardship. After graduating from Duke University in 2014, Alex worked in investment banking and private equity in New York City where he developed a passion for working with consumer companies, particularly those in the food and beverage space. Alex is currently pursuing his MBA at The Wharton School.

Javier Henriquez

Vice Chairman

As a Salvadoran American, Javier has long taken a focused interest in aiding poverty-stricken communities in Central America. In the summer of 2012, Javier directed the design and implementation of a 60-foot pedestrian bridge as part of Duke Engineers for International Development, giving a community in rural El Salvador access to schools, markets, and emergency medical care. After reading The Promise of a Pencil, the founding story of Pencils of Promise, Javier began to search for a way to support primary education efforts in the developing world, which ultimately led him to join fellow Duke graduate, Alex, on the Mayan Hope Board. Javier previously worked as a real estate developer in Miami and is currently pursuing his MBA at Columbia Business School.

Jim & Linda Dworschack

Treasurer (Jim) & Director (Linda)

Jim, a chemical engineer who sits on his local Board of Education, and Linda, a middle and high school science teacher, have been visiting and volunteering in Guatemala with their 2 children for nearly 20 years. Jim and Linda were first introduced to Mayan Hope in 2009, and returned in 2010 and 2011 to volunteer at the school, after which they, along with Jim's sister Julia, were invited to join Mayan Hope's Board by its cofounder, Don Langley. After Don's tragic passing in 2012, Jim and Linda took it upon themselves to ensure Mayan Hope's continued success, making frequent trips from their home in Wisconsin to spend time at the school. In 2016, they initiated conversations with Pencils of Promise to further Mayan Hope's goal of building a new school for its students.

Julie Dworschack

Jim & Linda Dworschack

Director