Back in the 1980s during Mexico’s high inflationary years, I had lots of experience writing big checks. It took careful planning to write the amount into the tiny space provided. Occasionally, I’d write two checks because it was the only way to get the words “millions” and “hundreds of thousands” to fit.
But there’s another type of big check I’ve never had any experience with. The big-in-size check. What do you do with a meter-long (three foot) check printed on foam board? You see them when people win the lottery or game shows. Until recently I’d never personally known anyone who had experience with this type of check.
Last year at Puebla’s City of Ideas Conference, 30 “Gifted Citizens” competed for US$100,000. They were invited based on programs they’d developed that were designed to improve the lives of at least 10,000 people within six years. It’s a stellar group.
I met Shanyn Ronis, a sparkling young 27 year-old idealist from the U.S. state of Virginia wearing a “Gifted Citizen” name tag at the coffee bar during an intermission. She told me a bit about her program.I was impressed.
The last day of the conference all 30“Gifted Citizens” were invited on stage to be presented to the 5,000 City of Ideas attendees. The curator of the event, Andres Roemer, announced the 10 finalists and Shanyn was one of them. Two were chosen to share the grand prize. To my delight Shanyn was presented with a $50,000 “big check”!
Last week Carol Hopkins and I interviewed Shanyn and learned that the actual “big check” is now proudly affixed to the wall in her office. Laughingly she told me she didn’t know anything about cashing a “big check.” The money was conventionally wired into the account of the NGO she heads and is already helping implement programs she designed.
“In 2013 I founded E-Gap (Educational Global Access Program). Our mission is to develop programs and materials that sustainably enhance the impact of teachers serving vulnerable populations in conflict zones and other at-risk areas. Teachers and existing NGOs are key to our vision of forging a global cadre of highly qualified and dedicated teachers who can enable their students to achieve full potential.”
Most of E-Gap’s work right now is in Africa. Shanyn, who is bi-lingual in Spanish, is working hard to bring programs to Mexico. She’s already implemented a program in Ecuador and is searching for a Mexican NGO partner for a similar program in this country. She did college fieldwork in Peru, Guatemala and Mexico, where she completed archaeological work as well as social anthropology research in Oaxaca.
Beginning as an undergraduate, Shanyn wrestled with working in cultures with high levels of social inequality, learning to implement “upside down” programs. “Most of the work we do is upside down. I take what is, even accept social inequality, because if we wait for that to change nothing will ever happen.
“The people who actually carry out our programs are from Nigeria, Cameroon, Ecuador and other countries in which we work. They’re the folk who provide the missing pieces. With their input we tweak our programs to work in their country — not the other way around.
“Most educational funding in Latin America is for basic education — elementary reading and writing. But what’s next? There’s a lost age group, 16 to 25, that’s falling through the cracks. They’ve completed mandatory primary education but don’t have job-related skills or computer competency.” Shanyn has listened and heard these young people say, “In order to succeed we need more than education. We need connections and experience. Otherwise we’ll never get our foot in the door.”
And so, Shanyn’s Gifted Citziens’ award is being used to finance the training of 3,000 teachers in areas of extreme poverty and conflict zones by 2017. “It is by far our biggest program. The video-based curriculum designed for independent learners combines with a written text and assessment. It can be used in rural areas — even those without access to Internet — and includes entrepreneurial training.
Shanyn told us how she came to be invited to The City of Ideas as a “Gifted Citizen.” “Last year I was a guest lecturer at a conference in Washington D.C. for young entrepreneurs. There were several Mexican participants. One, an organizer for the City of Ideas, suggested I apply.
“The City of Ideas was an extraordinary opportunity to meet people with similar goals and visions. We can supply support to one another
as needed. My gratitude for the opportunity to network with such an amazing group, not to mention the prize itself, is boundless.”
I still don’t know how to cash a “big check.”But then, I don’t have one. The Internet says they’re legal tender. I guess I’ll have to win one, or earn one, to find out if this is true.