LA VIDA Education was born out of a longstanding vision held by Aaron Pick to provide programs in sports, education, and the arts for students within Latino communities of California. As a frequent traveler to Latin America, Aaron began to dream about developing these programs in some of the poorer communities of Nicaragua, where the lack of educational resources and programs is often staggering. In 2003, he and Carmen Oates founded LA VIDA Education, Inc. to provide resources and fund construction projects for schools in the community of San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua. The organization functions as a 501 (c)(3) U.S. nonprofit and all funds are received directly from donations. Volunteer involvement is the cornerstone of LA VIDA, as all US staff serve on a volunteer basis, which ensures that 100 percent of the money donated goes directly to the development of programs in Nicaragua.

Aaron (most often referred to as “Pick” by friends) traveled to Nicaragua several times in 2003 to work with schools in San Juan de Oriente. Realizing that it was necessary to establish an ongoing presence and trust in the community, he decided to move to the village in 2004, where he lived for more than two years and worked to develop the Educational Community Center. To hear more about daily life in Nicaragua or to read his past newsletters, click on The Word from Pick.  Now in his final year of graduate school at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Aaron travels to Nicaragua whenever he gets the chance.