Empowering Global Changemakers

When we speak of expanding entrepreneurship opportunities across the curriculum at Breck, we seek to cultivate a mindset of tackling complexity in new and innovative ways. A mindset that embraces an active, problem-solving approach to the world, where students identify a genuine need and then design, build, and lead a sustainable initiative to address that need. Over the past two years, Enzo Petto ‘27 has delivered English language education to students throughout Latin America through his volunteer organization, Unidos Por El Idioma, which translates to “United by the Language.” Staying grounded in Breck’s commitment to social responsibility, he sought to build an international community of language learners and educators.

As a ninth grader, Enzo sought to connect his Latino heritage and Spanish language studies, and he started teaching English to students from a rural Colombian community on the weekends. From that experience, he had the idea to bring a sustainable solution for English language fluency to underserved Latin American communities. This led him to found Unidos Por El Idioma, a virtual tutoring organization that now connects Breck students with over 500 students in seven communities across five countries. Enzo recognized that the weekly Community Partnerships time on Wednesday presented a unique opportunity for Breck student volunteers to design programming and curriculum for their tutoring sessions. “The Community Partnership model made it possible to start Unidos Por El Idioma- it is a great space for students to do this work because it allows for focused engagement” Enzo reflected.

Future Focus calls our students to be prepared to engage in an increasingly complex world. Since Unidos Por El Idioma’s founding, Enzo has encountered barriers that impact the weekly sessions, such as limited internet access and power outages in the communities they partner with throughout Latin America, and he has had to develop nimble systems to respond to these disruptions, such as creating self-guided lessons and worksheets. Enzo shared, “People have to be understanding of these challenges faced by students in rural areas throughout Latin America and adapt to them.” For Enzo and the Unidos Por El Idioma volunteers, social responsibility looks like supporting students to work across diverse cultural and linguistic boundaries and mobilize resources to create an enduring social impact.

Signature programming at Breck, like Community Partnerships, allows opportunities for students to thrive and recognizes the value of supporting students to embrace entrepreneurship. By scaling opportunities for hands-on, authentic learning that integrates skills such as cross-cultural communication and collaborative innovation, we are ensuring that initiatives like Unidos Por El Idioma are not unique exceptions. In the coming years, we will continue to support students, like Enzo, as they develop high-level excellence in practical application, and learn to overcome obstacles with ingenuity.

To learn more about Unidos Por El Idioma, check out their website: unidosporelidioma.org