The Story of Pyxis

The short version of our story is that along with our friends, we have sponsored six students to attend Alianza Americana since 2008 and sent over 4,000 lbs of school supplies to Nicaragua in the last four years.  We hope to sponsor many, many more students and be able to work in other countries as well.  We have contacts in Guatemala, Haiti, Barbados, Costa Rica, Kenya, and Indonesia.

Long version:
In March of 2008, Matt Andrew, Christian Nielsen, and Truong Nguyen were among a group of students from Quinnipiac University who went to Nicaragua during spring break to build school classrooms, hand out school supplies, and experience poverty for the first time.
While working in the village of La Ceiba, outside of the city of Leon, they met a boy named Pedro.  Pedro helped them while they painted classrooms at his high school, attempting to communicate with a few words of English he had taught himself using a borrowed dictionary.  Over the course of a week, they learned that Pedro wanted to study medicine and help people in his community, and he wanted to speak English.

Together, the group of 30 students contributed $10 each for Pedro to receive a scholarship to Alianza Americana, the organization that was hosting/guiding the group during their trip to Nicaragua.  Alianza Americana was originally founded to teach young people English and leadership skills, to empower them to improve their lives.  In developing nations like Nicaragua, one can obtain a college degree, and still have trouble finding work, because there is so little.  Alianza gives its students the ability to create opportunities for themselves, to use their English and leadership skills to find ways to make a difference.

While in Nicaragua, Matt, Christian, and Truong realized that they had to make a career out of helping people.  There was nothing more satisfying than that week- laboring in the sun, making children smile, and having a positive impact on people’s lives.  Though Christian and Truong graduated that spring, a year later, Christian and Matt returned to Nicaragua with the group and shortly thereafter, “the changeIT project was born”.