Amanda is the Co-Founder and Director of La Puerta Abierta (Open Door) Children’s Learning Center and Library in Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala. La Puerta Abierta was established in 2006 and is the first free child focused learning center in Santiago.
Prior to working with the La Puerta Abierta, Amanda dedicated 3 years to collaborating with the community of Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala as a Peace Corps volunteer. She spent her first 2 years in the Peace Corps’ Environmental Education Program teaching school children and working with local teachers in creating an environmental education curriculum. Her last year with the Peace Corps was dedicated to developing an early stimulation program and teen vocational program for ADISA, a local non-profit organization in Santiago that aids children and teenagers with disabilities.
In the United States Amanda taught bilingual elementary education in Oakland, California. She graduated from UC Berkeley with an focus in education and Spanish. While she never imagined that she would be planting her roots in rural Guatemala, she couldn’t be happier living in a colorful rural village with her husband, two rambunctious daughters and equally rambunctious dogs.
