This District 24 educator builds a better future in Guatemala

Valley Stream District 24’s Jack Mitchell and around 40 other volunteers participated in the second Lifetouch Memory Mission in Guatemala to construct “bottle classrooms”—sustainable classrooms that are made using plastic bottles and inorganic trash. The assistant superintendent of business volunteered in Xepatan, in the state of Chimaltenango, where he met the local students and helped host the community’s first “Picture Day” for kids in Kindergarten through sixth grade.

Through the mission trip, Lifetouch partnered with the Guatemala-based Hug It Forward and the community of Xetapan to build the bottle classrooms. The foundations, columns, and beams were made from concrete reinforced with iron rebar. Instead of cinder blocks, however, the classroom’s walls were created using “eco-bricks” or plastic bottles filled with inorganic trash. The schools are expected to last 100 years.

“I’m so touched by the opportunity to take part in this mission trip,” Mitchell said. “Building an eco-friendly school like this is fascinating and it’s something that will have an immeasurable impact on the community. I’m looking forward to immersing myself in a new country and giving my all to help the people living there.”

The Lifetouch Memory Mission also hosted the first ever Picture Day for the community’s kindergarten through sixth-grade children. Volunteers saw the joy in the students’ faces when they received their first photos on the last day of the trip.

In addition to creating an improved and stable classroom and school environment for the Guatemalan community,  Mitchell was touched by the opportunity to engage with the community, appreciating the land, tasting the food, and meeting the students.  

Since 2000, Lifetouch has been inviting company employees and national education partners to volunteer on its Memory Mission and serve communities across the globe. Volunteers have built schools across Haiti and the Dominican Republic, rebuilt a village in Kosovo, repaired homes in Appalachia, created a children’s center in Jamaica, and constructed a bridge in the land of the Navajo in Arizona.