Nerlyn Velásquez Ramos will be attending Beloit College in the fall of 2023.  She is an indigenous woman from a village in Chichicastenango, Guatemala. She is the oldest daughter in her family and has two siblings. One of her biggest advantages is having parents with high school educations, which led her to see the world full of opportunities, especially in the academic and extracurricular area. 

In addition to her schooling, Nerlyn started learning to play the guitar in a public art school at the age of nine.The art school encourages all kids to learn any instrument. In 2019 she joined the ACCESS English program, which she considers to be “The first door to become a female leader” because there she got into volunteering, community service and teamwork. The projects she feels proudest of are her monthly visits to an orphan and delivering hygienic supplies to poor schools. In 2021, she was selected to continue with the next step of the ACCESS  program, which was the SEAL program where she became a Beginners English Teacher. In addition to that she trained herself by giving classes to other students who are in a beginner level. That same year, she was a member of the National Olympic Science team in her school. In 2022 she led, organized and created the program Health School, Health Students, where she delivered first aid kits to 3 schools in her village in addition to giving workshops to teachers and principals about the correct management of the supplies in the kits.

All these activities made Nerlyn a young woman leader who looks out for the development of health and science education for women and all kids in Guatemala.