Alumni Impact: Meet Alex Gamboa
Alumni Impact is a social media campaign that recognizes the excellent work being done by FIUTS alumni all around the world. Today, meet Alex, a FIUTS YAP alum from Peru, and learn about his work with teaching English and providing students with a safe place for promoting equality and excellence.
Alex Gamboa Hidalgo
My name is Alex Gamboa Hidalgo and I am originally from Chiclayo, Peru. I am a foreign language teacher at Coar Lambayeque, which is a boarding school in my region, and I am also the Academic Director of HP English School, which is a virtual school specializing in English. I am an alumnus of the 2019 Youth Ambassadors Program, which gave me the opportunity to be one of the mentors in charge.
My main goal as an educator has always been to support students from different realities and contexts, always seeking equality and excellence. Thus, I started to look for new professional development opportunities across my country as well as overseas.
In the pursuit of my dreams and goals, I decided to apply to The Youth Ambassadors Program in 2019, but little did I know that this wonderful and lifetime experience was going to change and open my mind in terms of knowledge, values and commitment.
The first place to be was Vermont, where we met amazing women mentors who delivered sessions about leadership and community projects; it was such a preparation for the next step.
Days later, we moved to Seattle where we also met super caring professional people who not only were kind, but helpful and above all, eager and ready to teach us all they know. That is when I was introduced to FIUTS and everything that this program involves and offers.
A photo in Vermont with YAS 2019 FROM PERU AND BOLIVIA.
Every day was something new for me and the people that I was mentoring; as FIUTS not only gave us talks, meetings and lectures; but also the experiences to meet excellent human beings, get involved in community service, hold panel discussions, and get inspired by successful stories that helped me have a better understanding of the responsibility that people must take.
When I came back to Peru, I definitely had to do something; thus I organized some talks and workshops with my team and in accordance with the rules and protocols of the school led by our principal Mrs. Mery Mocarro, we took a giant step by calling all English teachers from the public schools of our region to sign up for a free training course, whose paramount goal was to strengthen their professional competences. This training course had around 65 attendees and took place in our school from January to February 2020. Likewise, I would like to highlight the fact that this experience let English teachers’ voices be heard as in Lambayeque, we have a lack of free training courses for English teachers. It was such an unforgettable experience for all of us; that is why, we decided to deliver another free training course in 2021, but this time, due to the pandemic, we did it virtually and we had teachers from other regions as well. This had a great impact on the education field in Lambayeque as well as other parts of Peru, too.
Alex monitoring and supporting English teachers in our first training course at COAR LAMBAYEQUE.
On the other hand, I deem that students are the core and the reason for our decisions as every little thing we implement in class is for them. In my school, students normally come from low-income families and mostly they do not have access to opportunities because of the lack of guidance from experts or advisors in international scholarships. For that reason, I began to do some research about those procedures and it has let me guide them to achieve their goals in programs such as Latin American Leadership Academy (LALA) , Youth Ambassadors, Yale Young Global Scholars and so on. And I must say that I have felt totally proud of each of them since it has been like a win-win; they learn new things and I learn from them.
So far I must acknowledge that FIUTS has changed my life and perhaps others’ somehow. Therefore, FIUTS will continue being present in every project that I will start. For instance; last year, my friend and colleague Mrs. Elizabeth Santisteban and I decided to launch our entrepreneurship “ HP English School”, which is a place not only for learning English, but also a safe place for promoting equality and excellence where people can find guidance and personalized support. Additionally, we have a scholarship program for low-income families and outstanding students.
photo at the Pike Market Child Care and Preschool
Obviously, it was not quite easy to begin this new episode; there were questions running through our heads such as How are we going to do it? What about the addressed audience? How long will it take? etc.
The stakes were high, but nothing was impossible, and we could finally gather all the necessary elements to start this project. Lastly, At HP English School, we strongly believe that education can transform people’s lives and we are really pleased to contribute to their enhancement in a holistic way.
Currently, we are working on some agreements and alliances with schools and companies to make this bigger and let more people benefit. I personally hope to dedicate my life to furthering this educational cause so that everybody has the same opportunities. Visit us on Instagram @hp.englishschool or connect with me via LinkedIn for more details.
Participants of the Youth Ambassador Program with Peru and Bolivia gained skills and experiences intended to prepare them to plan and implement community action projects once they return to their home countries. They stayed with host families during their time in Seattle and had opportunities to meet and connect with local youth through the FIUTS Ambassadors program.
FIUTS produced this program through a contract with World Learning, and the program was fully funded by the U. S. Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
Guest posts on the FIUTS blog represent the experiences and views of individual writers. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FIUTS or any organizations or institutions affiliated with our programs.