Building a Generation of Change-Makers

When he was in seventh grade, Cuauhtémoc Cruz Herrera (Mexico, UWC-USA, Macalester ’19) discovered a passion for math—and that kindled a life’s goal “of improving the quantity and quality of educational opportunities for all students,” he writes, “especially public-school students like me.” 

He has been delivering on that goal ever since.     

The summer after his first year at Macalester, Cuau returned to his home state of Jalisco with a small college grant to start a summer math program for public schools. He built that into a peer-to-peer training initiative, through which older students who had been through his program helped younger kids; and then into an NGO he titled Integración Matemática, whose website is set up to identify high-potential students.

In his senior year at college, Cuau took on a job as director of mathematics education for Jalisco. In that position, he has since created 11 math programs that have benefited more than 400,000 students in the state.    

“The members of this network have access to 77 programs, such as academic scholarships, networking events, international competitions, summer programs, guidance on their social projects, and one mentor for each member,” writes Cuau, who in 2022 earned a Harvard master’s degree in education policy and analysis. “The object is to create a generation of change-makers who inspire others to become change-makers.    

“I am also currently starting a peer-to-peer math tutoring platform with a UWC friend, Alejandro Soler, and 120 of my former students,” adds Cuau, who last year became Jalisco’s general director of extracurricular education. “This platform is called proyecto Daskalos (proyectodaskalos.com), and the goal is to expand the work I have done in Jalisco to the rest of Mexico and to all Latin American countries in the next three to five years.” 

This profile is part of the “Graduates in Action” series from the 2025 Annual Report.