Today, we get to learn from Matthew Paneitz, founder and executive director of Long Way Home. This organization built Hero School, a student-built and community-built campus in San Juan Comalapa, Guatemala.
Built from recycled tires and trash, the campus took 16 years to build and serves 178 students enrolled in PreK through High School. The school campus is almost complete.
Matthew is also the recipient of the 2020 Sargent Shriver Award for Distinguished Humanitarian Service for his work in Guatemala. This award, presented annually by the National Peace Corps Association, honors Peace Corps volunteers who continue to contribute to humanitarian causes.
Long before this award and the existence of Hero School, Matthew had an idea.
An idea that needed funding, direction, and partners.
How did Matthew obtain funding when he started this project?
How did he develop a strategy sustaining him and the school he built with the residents of Comalapa?
What is the school's curriculum, and how does it change the conversation around poverty?
Let's find out.
LINKS
Long Way Home - Turn Trash Into Schools
Long Way Home Sustainability Projects (https://www.lwhomegreen.org)
Help School Fight Climate Change with Green Building (Global Giving) - Giving Tuesday is December 2, 2025
Watch timelapse video of recent classroom construction (Fall 2025)
2020 Sargent Shriver Award for Distinguished Humanitarian Service
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CREDITS:
- Producer: Tania Marien
- Music: So Far So Close by Jahzzar is licensed under a Attribution-ShareAlike License;
- SOLO ACOUSTIC GUITAR by Jason Shaw is licensed under a Attribution 3.0 United States License.
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