Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program
Ingrid Tuyuc Amesquita / Guatemala

Province: Chimaltenango
City: Chimaltenango
Age: 19

Class of 2013-2016

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Scholar: Hélio Joaquím Vasco Junior Scholar: Joaquim Cuvaca

Ingrid grew up in the city of Chimaltenango, Guatemala. To pursue her interest in agriculture, which developed during vacations spent on her grandfather’s farm, Ingrid attended secondary school at the National Central School of Agriculture, or ENCA (Escuela Nacional Central de Agricultura in Spanish).

After graduation, she plans to go back to Chimaltenango to help her family and community. “There is a lot of contamination in Guatemala. It’s normal for people to throw away bags and garbage on the streets,” and Ingrid plans to start a recycling center to change that. She has also noticed that in Guatemala “there’s space to grow crops, but people think it’s too hard to do, too much work, and so they end up paying three times the price for food at the grocery store that they could be growing themselves.” Ingrid wants to address this issue by teaching people how to plant and produce their own food in order to be self-sufficient.