Carlos

Carlos Rene Fajardo Pinto is the oldest of five sons. While in primary school, he received a scholarship from Mayatan Foundation that covered half his tuition costs, allowing him to attend despite his family's financial situation. This opportunity, combined with his academic ability, strength of character, hard work, and supportive family, has enabled Carlos to find employment within the extremely competitive airline industry while he furthers his education.

After graduating from ninth grade, Carlos moved alone at the age of 15 to the industrial city of San Pedro Sula, where he attended high school for two years. (Mayatan did not have a colegio at the time.) His calm and friendly personality plus his ability to speak English pleased interviewers at COPA airlines, who offered Carlos a front desk job at San Pedro Sula’s international airport.

Whether it was greeting passengers, checking passports, processing tickets, or coordinating flight plans with the captain, Carlos’s spoken English skills and diplomacy were put to the test every day. His proudest moment was being thanked personally by the Dominican Republic’s Head of Security for solving a travel problem encountered by the Ambassador and the President’s wife.

Having accepted a job and training from COPA airlines, Carlos decided to continue with that company even though he has was offered future employment with both Maersk and American Airlines. As an example of his impressive talent, Carlos progressed to the final four in a series of math and logistics exams set by Maersk. He was by far youngest of 75 applicants (all the rest were over 30 years of age), and management promised to reconsider him for a job at any later stage.

Carlos’s plans are to progress into management at COPA and attend university after work, where he will study Civil Engineering. His airline work should enable him to pay his own fees, and he has friends from whom he can borrow books.

We wish Carlos the very best of luck with all his future plans. We, like his family, are extremely proud of him and hope his success encourages other students. Carlos can’t stress highly enough the importance of a bilingual education and the great start Mayatan provided for him. His teachers inspired him and he would like to thank everyone who helped him along the way.