Student-run since 2021 · Vienna, Virginia
We share love across borders.
Back to School Together is a nonprofit run entirely by high school and college students. We teach free math camps in Yucatán, Mexico, and fund the classrooms that make learning possible in rural Guatemala.
We value connection, open-mindedness, and dependability, and hope to make a lasting impact on students everywhere. Jae Jin Grace Suh, Founder
Three things, done by students.
Free summer camps
Every summer our members travel to Yucatán to teach students aged 5 to 25. Mornings are math. Afternoons are games, music, art, and dance.
Classrooms that work
Books and projectors. Carpet over a dirt floor, glass in the windows, doors on the classrooms. And the internet bill for a school in rural Guatemala, covered since 2023.
Entirely student-run
Students plan the fundraisers, bake the goods, run the departments, and teach the lessons. Adults are not in charge here.
All at Once, 2025.
The sixth camp ended the way every camp ends: everyone in the room saying the BTST cheer together — students, teachers, and volunteers from both countries.
A bake sale in Virginia pays a school’s wifi bill in Guatemala.
In February 2024 the team spent a Saturday baking fifteen kinds of cookies, muffins, brownies and madeleines, then stood on a cold street corner waving signs. Six hours later they had raised $916.35.
That money is not abstract. It became internet access for Ms. Esly’s school — the same school where earlier proceeds paid for a projector, more than a hundred books, and floors that used to be dirt.
From the team.
Every dollar becomes a classroom.
We are a small organization with no paid staff, so donations go directly to camps, supplies, and school costs.