Stephanie Quintero
Senior, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School
During a family trip to South America five years ago to visit relatives, Germantown resident Stephanie Quintero learned that an English program for kids in the small village of La Mesa, Colombia, was being cut.
Stephanie, then 12, and her older brother, Chris, wanted to help. They enlisted their mom, Martha Galvis, a teacher, to join them in developing a one-week English class for the elementary school-age children.
About 30 students came the first year during summer vacation—and students have been coming every year since—to improve their language skills, play games and deepen friendships. “We learned a lot, too—it wasn’t just one-sided,” says Stephanie, who has traveled to La Mesa five times to run the class and is now a 17-year-old senior at St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Potomac.
That was the beginning of Chicos and Kids, a nonprofit that she and Chris founded. Stephanie has expanded it to include a small network of young volunteers, primarily through her school, to mentor children from refugee families in Montgomery County. She also organized a toy and coat drive, and hosted a holiday party for the families.
“I couldn’t live with the fact that I had so many opportunities, and see other children in my community not succeed and have a different destiny or future,” says Stephanie, whose parents emigrated from Colombia.
Because of her volunteer work, Stephanie has been selected to participate in leadership events and conferences in Washington, D.C., New York and London, and was a finalist for the 2015 Peace First Prize, which recognizes young people ages 8 to 22 for their contributions as peacemakers.
As for her future, Stephanie has an interest in medicine, sparked by a Johns Hopkins cancer research internship during school breaks. If she doesn’t become a neurosurgeon, she is considering international relations or human rights law.
“She tackles every challenge and goes above and beyond,” says Ginger Cobb, the head of the Upper School at St. Andrew’s. “She is the change we need in the world. She gives me so much hope.”