Limitless Horizons Ixil and our supporters witnessed a longtime dream become reality in 2022 by opening Colegio Horizontes, our revolutionary middle school and we are thrilled to be expanding it to include a joint high school during our 20th anniversary year!

Chajul is an indigenous Maya Ixil community that was at the heart of Guatemala's 36-year civil war. It has a poverty rate of 93%, and only 5% of youth graduate from high school. Limitless Horizons Ixil spent our first 15 years providing youth with scholarships and wrap-around services and an expansive community library, which supported the first community generation of female graduates from middle school through college graduation. While these graduates have gone on to find good professional jobs and have become some of Chajul’s first female professional role models, well educated professionals are still desperately needed in a multitude of professions in Chajul to fill jobs in medicine, education, law, government, banks and more. Currently, Colegio Horizontes' middle school is fostering a new era of female empowerment and leadership, and students (2/3 of whom are young indigenous women) are thriving. The success of Colegio Horizontes has reinforced our passion and commitment to launching a high school that will allow our middle schoolers to continue their high school studies with us too. To see our impact through the story of a student, check out our most recent video!

One of our strategic priorities with our high school expansion is to build the infrastructure for students to pursue professions in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and apply their expertise to solve local challenges relating to agriculture, environmental science, healthcare, and more. Through culturally responsive, rigorous, and engaging academics, graduates will become civic-minded youth, prepared for university and careers, and capable of breaking the cycle of poverty in rural Guatemala.

We need to raise $780,000 to cover start-up costs for the high school, including construction, furnishing, and curriculum development. Each classroom, multipurpose room, and meeting room will cost $50,000 to build and the fully equipped science lab will cost $80,000. Construction began in January 2024 and we are on track to open our doors in January 2025 for the start of Guatemala's new school year. We have already raised $543,000 towards our goal - we are so close and need your help raising the remaining 30%!

Interested in learning more? See details in our High School Case for Support or visit our Colegio Horizontes' webpage.

Photo Credits: Nikki Ritcher

*Please note that the total goal for the campaign is $237K.