From left: Michelle Baker, '09, Aaron Hill, '09, Prof. Edward Montanaro, and current Carthage student Amber Callendar, '10. Ms. Baker and Mr. Hill are now teaching English at Nuevo Horizonte in Guatemala. Ms. Callendar spent five months in the community as a teacher last semester.


Carthaginians find 'New Horizons' after J-Term in Guatemala

Prior to the Civil War, several Utopian experimental communities were established in the United States by founders who hoped they would become models of communal living.

Some 150 years later, a handful of Carthaginians have gone to Guatemala to participate in an effort reminiscent of those earlier experiments.

Michelle Baker, '09, and Aaron Hill, '09, are now teaching at Nuevo Horizonte, a community of about 400 founded in the wake of a civil war in Guatemala. Amber Callendar, '10, returned to the United States in June after five months as a teacher there.

Experience began with J-Term trip

Edward Montanaro, associate professor of modern language and economics, says the students' experiences in Guatemala began with Religion and Social Justice, a J-Term course in 2008 on liberation theology, an approach with many adherents in Latin America that emphasizes the Christian mission to bring justice to the poor.

GuatemalaThe secondary school at Nuevo Horizonte where Carthage students and alumni have taught. The recently opened school was donated by a South Korean non-government organization.

Romwald Maczka, professor of religion, who taught the 2008 course with Prof. Montanaro, had previously visited Nuevo Horizonte (New Horizon in English).

"It had been founded by leftist guerillas about 11 years ago, right after the signing of the peace accord, when the rebels turned in their arms," Prof. Montanaro says, adding that the community, near Mayan ruins in northeastern Guatemala, is intended to be self-sufficient. Residents raise beef cattle, chickens, apples and watermelons, and have a fish farm to raise tilapia. The community also operates a restaurant, serving travelers along a busy highway.

"By rural Guatemalan standards, they're living well," Prof. Montanaro says of Nuevo Horizonte.

In 2008, J-term participants spent two weeks in the town.

"Amber took an immediate liking to the community and the kids," Prof. Montanaro recalls. "After the trip, Amber expressed interest in doing her required study abroad in Guatemala, in the same region."

'Community based on ideals'

The Carthage teaching connection to Nuevo Horizonte came about because Guatemala's government only provides free public education through fifth grade.

"After that, it's all up to the individual," Prof. Montanaro says. The residents of Nuevo Horizonte built a modest structure, before "fortune shined on them" when the government of South Korea donated a building to serve as a secondary school.

"It's sort of like a middle school, but the curriculum lines don't match up with ours," Prof. Montanaro says. "It encompasses what you might take in freshman and even sophomore years of high school."

The community supports the school with some of its business profits, but couldn't afford to hire an English teacher. During a visit last summer, Prof. Montanaro discussed having Amber, who majors in Spanish with a minor in chemistry, teach those subjects.

"They knew they needed English in their curriculum," Prof. Montanaro says. "They already knew Amber and were delighted to have her come back and stay in the community."

Amber says she "wanted to study abroad, but to immerse myself in the culture, not just be a student." She was attracted to Guatemala because there were three college campuses fairly close to Nuevo Horizonte, where "I fell in love with the people in the community. The people there know who they are and what they believe in, and established a community based on their ideals."

Two more students continue the work

The school where Amber taught has 60-70 students, nearly all from Nuevo Horizonte.

"The school is free, neighbors are welcome, but most are too poor to get there," Prof. Montanaro explains. "Immediately around the town is some of the worst poverty in Guatemala, Third World poverty at its worst."

Amber returned to Guatemala with this winter's J-term group. She attended classes at Mariano Galvez University on Saturdays, and taught five days a week.

"It was a challenge at first, but it got to be really rewarding," she reflects. "I enjoyed teaching chemistry and physics more, because I knew they understood my language."

In June, Ms. Baker and Mr. Hill took the baton from Amber. They will teach until Oct. 30, the end of the academic year.

"I'm really excited to go," says Ms. Baker, an English major from Rindge, N.H. During this year's J-term, "I kind of fell in love with the community. They offered me a job, and I took it. I really enjoy traveling, and being immersed in cultures."

Asked about career plans, Ms. Baker responds that "I don't really have any yet. It's going to depend on how well I like teaching English as a second language. If I do enjoy it, I'll continue going abroad to teach."

One future possibility is service in the Peace Corps, and Amber believes her semester in Nuevo Horizonte could prepare her for that option.

"The Peace Corps wants to know you won't bail out on them," she points out. "The more experience you have, the better it looks on your resume."

Inspiring service

Mr. Hill, an International Political Economy major from Rockford, Ill., went to China on a 2008 J-term trip, but had not been to Guatemala. He says Ms. Baker suggested he join her at Nuevo Horizonte.

"I've always wanted to learn Spanish, and thought this would be a good opportunity to get out of my comfort zone," he says. He has also considered a stint in the Peace Corps.

"I'd really like to go to China again, but that really hinges on how well I like teaching English as a second language," he says.

Prof. Montanaro is confident Carthage students will be teaching English in Nuevo Horizonte for all of 2010. Laura Ripple, '10, has already made a commitment to go south next January.

The Carthaginians' willingness to help the people of Nuevo Horizonte "reflects the altruism and global awareness that we try to instill in our students while they are at Carthage," Prof. Montanaro says.

— By Bill Kurtz, Carthage College