University of the Ozarks alumnus Lucas Pinzon’s remarkable journey has gone from growing up in orphanage in Guatemala, to earning a Walton International Scholarship to Ozarks, to returning to his home country to help disadvantaged children. The latest chapter in his impressive story is him being named a prestigious Mountaintop International Fellow.
A 2001 marketing graduate from Ozarks, Pinzon was named in February as one of 17 Mountaintop Fellows from around the world for 2025. The Mountaintop International Fellowship program, is a paid, one-year, full-time fellowship designed for “emerging leaders who aim to drive systemic change in lower-income communities around the world, typically by staying or returning to their home communities to work with local NGOs, governments, and social ventures.” The program includes a summer leadership institute at Harvard University and provides mentorship and access to grant opportunities.
Since 2006, Pinzon has served as CEO of Esperanza Juvenil (Boys Hope Girls Hope Guatemala) in Guatemala City. The boarding and day school helps academically motivated children and youth rise above disadvantaged backgrounds and become successful in school, college and beyond. The school works with and supports children from third grade through college.
Pinzon’s personal journey is a powerful testament to resilience and hope.
Raised in Tecpán, Guatemala, in a Maya Kaqchikel family, he experienced profound hardship, losing his father to the civil war at the age of four. By 10, financial struggles forced his mother to send him and his siblings to Hogar Tío Juan, a children’s home and orphanage that provided them with education and stability. Determined to make the most of his opportunities, Pinzon excelled in school and went on to earn a Walton International Scholarship to study at Ozarks, becoming the first from his orphanage to go to college.
“When I think about how I grew up in Guatemala, knowing that kids like me normally don’t get opportunities for an education, it’s really hard for me to believe where I am today,” Pinzon said in a recent interview. “My mom deciding to take me to the city and leave me at a program similar to the one I’m serving now, that was hard for all of us. I remember being so very homesick and crying a lot. But in the end it was the best thing that could have happened.”
Pinzon said he belies his hardships growing up in Guatemala was God’s work.
“I really do believe that God prepared me for this position I am in now, from growing up in an orphanage and getting an opportunity for a good education that led me to studying at Ozarks,” he said. “I think those experiences helped prepare me to come back to Guatemala to help children and young people who are living in poverty and giving them a chance at a good education.”
Since joining Esperanza Juvenil, Pinzon has overseen an extraordinary transformation, growing the program from just 29 scholars to more than 200, and empowering young people and changing the future for many Guatemalan youth.
“It’s exciting to be able to offer these opportunities to more and more young people in Guatemala,” he said. “We’ve currently have 45 students who are enrolled in universities and a total of 18 who have graduated from universities and who are starting their professional careers. Those numbers are going to continually grow.”
Growing up in an orphanage gives Pinzon an unique perspective in helping the students at Esperanza Juvenil.
“I could never have dreamed of doing something like this when I was a small boy,” Pinzon said. “I can relate to our students because I know what it is like to be homesick and to have to leave your family. I can serve them in a better way because I can relate to them. I realize now that it wasn’t that my mom didn’t want me, she just couldn’t provide me the same opportunities that I could receive at the orphanage. I try to convey that same message to our students, that they can dream big and that we can help make those dreams come true.”
Pinzon said his time at Ozarks helped “open his mind to other cultures and people.”
“It not only helped me academically, but it put me outside my comfort zone and I grew a lot as a person and as a leader,” he said. “My English improved dramatically and I met people from other countries. I grew up so much as a leader, even though I probably didn’t realize it at the time. After I graduated from Ozarks, I came back with so much more confidence in myself.”
After graduating from Ozarks, Pinzon returned to Guatemala and worked as a marketing manager in the business sector for several years. When the opening came up at Esperanza Juvenil, Pinzon did not hesitate to take the position.
“I saw this as an opportunity to give back to the community that had given me so much,” said Pinzon, who went on to earn an MBA in 2009. “I just knew this is where God wanted me.”
One of his former students at Esperanza Juvenil is now a structural engineer in Guatemala who is the project manager for an expansion at Pinzon’s school.
“That’s really something to know that a student who started here in kindergarten is now coming back to the school as a professional and helping us expand,” Pinzon said. “He even talked to some of our students and helped show them what’s possible if they study and do well.”
Through the Mountaintop International Fellowship, Pinzon will take part in a fully funded two-week leadership institute at Harvard University this summer, receive one-on-one mentorship from global experts, and gain access to new funding opportunities—all of which will help him expand his impact in Guatemala even further.
“It was quite a surprise and an honor to be selected for this fellowship,” Pinzon said. “There were numerous forms and essays and interviews involved in the process and I just went into it thinking I was going to do my best and see what happens. This experience taught me to take advantage of the doors that open for you and to commit to the process—do your very best.”
The opportunity comes just as Esperanza Juvenil begins working on its strategic plan for the next five years.
“I will be able to get a lot of resources and tools from this fellowship that will help us as we look ahead,” Pinzon said. “I’m excited about gaining new skills and knowledge that are going to help us better serve our students and my country.”
Pinzon and his wife, Rosa Raxon, an attorney, were married in 2015 and they have two children—John Lucas, 9, and Maya, 5.
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Topics: Alumni Stories