Meet Our Graduates
Nenrry Vasquez Rey Education
It was Nenrry’s experience as a young Afro-Bolivian girl in a culturally unresponsive classroom in the country’s rural area that inspired her to become an educator. She believed that, with a degree in education from the UAC-CP in Carmen Pampa, she could improve the failed system that was meant to empower her and other marginalized populations.
Through Nenrry’s experiences at the College and contacts she met during her time as a student, she started working to mobilize the Afro-Bolivian community. Eventually, Nenrry and a fellow UAC-CP classmate, founded CONAFRO — a national organization that supports and unites Afro-Bolivians through labor, education, and human rights advocacy.
Today, Nenrry travels throughout Bolivia on behalf of the government’s Ministry of Education. She monitors the implementation of legislation that mandates the integration of indigenous cultural and historical perspective into the classroom. “The children of Bolivia deserve a complete education that recognizes their individuality. I dare to dream this education for Bolivia's children.”
Claudia Carrizales Nursing
“I’m proud that I am able to put into practice the things that I learned from the College—in my work and my personal life,” says Claudia Carrizales.
Just four years after defending her thesis and graduating from the UAC-CP’s Nursing Program, Claudia manages a vaccination program (known by the Spanish acronym PAI and financed by the Bolivian Ministry of Health), that is responsible for the free distribution of vaccines. Claudia is responsible for the entire population living in the city of El Alto—approximately one million people.
“My job,” Claudia explains, “is to help prevent diseases that, in some cases, can cause severe health care problems or even death.” Her team of health professionals, which is based at 74 health posts in the city, administers vaccinations against tuberculosis, measles, mumps, rubella, and other infectious disease. “One of our goals for this year,” Claudia offers as an example, “is to vaccinate 86,000 children between the ages of 1-6-years-old.“
Her work requires a high level of dedication and commitment says the married mother of two children who is also completing her master’s degree in health care administration. “It’s important to me that I’m giving attention to children and adults who need to be protected from disease.”
Once the opportunity allows, Claudia admits, she would like to work in Bolivia’s rural area. “I want to return to help the people of my culture, to support them with my experience and the things I learned from the College.”
Edgar Abad Conde Agronomy
For Edgar Abad Conde Blanco, studying Agronomy was his dream for as long as he can remember. Born in El Alto, the city perched on the high plain above La Paz--Bolivia's capital, Edgar’s parents had only recently moved to the city, forced to resign their professions as agronomists to earn a more stable living in an urban profession.
Years later, after completing secondary school, Edgar stayed true to his roots, and enrolled at the UAC-CP to study Agronomy, finally returning to the rural area where his parents had worked.
Edgar was a high achieving student at the College, spending his four years working with his teachers and peers to develop projects of production, organic cultivation and investigation of natural research preservation. After graduation, he then used his research to return to the city and to implement one of the first organic community gardens in La Paz.
Edgar is currently studying at the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE) in Costa Rica, where he and his wife Rocio – a UAC-CP Education graduate – are completing their Masters Degrees. He plans to complete his Masters thesis in Mexico.
Joanna Gabriela Rosas Mealla Ecotourism
When she first visited UAC-CP in 2006, Joanna came to visit a friend majoring in Agronomy. Her interest was piqued after hearing about the College's newly opened Ecotourism Department, so she applied.
During her time at the College, Joanna spent her weeks completing her technical degree Ecotourism, and traveling back to La Paz on weekends to take French classes to improve her language skills.
Upon graduation, she made the decision to buy a house nestled into the side of a mountain near Coroico--a tourist town in the North Yungas region, and 45 minutes from Carmen Pampa. To finance the cost, she transformed the house into a hostel.
With the support of her husband and two daughters, Joanna now manages Bellas Rosas - the name of the hostel. They are slowly renovating the lower dining area, adding a grilling station, and then eventually completing several rooms near the entrance of the house.
“At first we only really lodged Bolivians, visiting from La Paz or other areas for the weekends. But then tourists started to hear about us, too. Now we’re nearly always full.”
Joanna credits UAC-CP for her career, and is thankful for the specificity that the Tourism degree provides.
With the use of online marketing platforms such as Booking and AirBnb, she has been able to successfully advertise her growing business, all from her home in the Yungas. Now, she is able to reach an international demographic, something she would not have been able to do without the technical skills acquired through the Ecotourism program.
“Many think that tourism is easy, and wonder why you would need to go to school for it." She looks around her hostel as two guests return to their rooms for the afternoon. She greets them, and smiles. “But unlike others, I know exactly how to run my business. I have all the skills I need to be successful.”
David Ulo Veterinary Science
Although David Ulo, a 2007 UAC-CP Veterinary Science graduate, currently works as a professor at a technical institute in Palos Blancos--a rural town in Sur Yungas, Bolivia--and as a professor at the College, he has distinguished himself as a jack-of-all trades.
Raised in a rural community, David spent his childhood working long hours, picking coffee, yucca, avocados and corn to support his family. One of six children, David had low prospects of attending school, much less obtaining a university degree.
“When I discovered UAC-CP, I knew it was the opportunity I needed to become educated.”
Because he had worked in agriculture all his life, David knew that he wanted to continue working with wildlife, specifically in animal and health sciences. That is why he chose to study in the College's Veterinary Science Department.
After graduating, David worked with a number of growing businesses around Bolivia, learning the trades of honey, chicken, and pork cultivation.
Most recently, however, he has chosen to dedicate his life to teaching in underdeveloped schools in rural communities. “I realized that, had I not gotten the opportunity to study, I would still be in the same living conditions I was as a child. I teach with the hope that I can provide the same opportunity for youth like me.”
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