During the first week of March, seven FlyMates (Flywire employees) went on Flywire’s second corporate trip with School the World to Guatemala, where they built a school for a community in need.
School the World’s program is carefully designed to improve the overall accessibility of public education and the quality of teachers within the rural Guatemalan village where the school was built. Most importantly, the program engages the entire community and ensures long-term success through the community’s ownership of the initiative.
This initiative was run by our FlyMate Elena Escobar, Senior People & Culture Manager in Valencia. FlyMates that attended were Victoria Stephens, Client Success Associate in Boston; Jacki Ashorn, Relationship Manager in Texas; Tania Hurry, Relationship Manager in Singapore; Kika Milán, Finance & Accounting Team Lead in Valencia; Megal Powell, Customer Success Associate in Valencia; Tanya Koleva, Customer Success Associate in Valencia; and Hilda Amponsah, Client Success Associate in London.
Our FlyMates’ fundraising efforts included cooking classes, a spicy noodle challenge, a Mario Kart competition, fitness and dance classes, T-shirt sales, and more!
Elena noted, “All these fundraising efforts were translated into the great amount we were able to raise overcoming our goal, and showed the commitment of both the team and the FlyMates to contribute to the School the World cause. It was an enriching and inspiring experience!”
Tania’s favorite memory of the trip was “the graciousness shown by the family that we had the chance to visit. They brought us into their home with such a joy and kindness, gave us a snapshot into their day-to-day lives, explained how they ran small businesses from their home, shared some of the hardships they faced having to send their older kids away to work. But through all of it, they had a strength and resilience that was unparalleled. The joy on their faces for the tiny gifts that we shared with them was overwhelmingly heartwarming.”
Victoria said, “This experience made me so grateful that I work for a company that recognizes the importance of social responsibility, values global learning, and offers the opportunity to participate in volunteer work.”
To Kika, “the arrival ceremony was the most exciting moment for me, after many hours in the van, arriving at the community and seeing all those faces… it was impossible to not cry!”
Flywire is excited to continue partnering with School the World to create meaningful change and experiences for its volunteers and communities in need.