Featured Alumnus
Wheaton Posse 5 (New York)
Ryan Letada, Wheaton Posse 5, graduated from Wheaton College in Massachusetts in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. Upon graduating he set out for Manila, Philippines, on a Fulbright Fellowship to research the mass eviction of residents of poor urban communities. Less than a year later, he is preparing to send 100 laptops to two schools in small, impoverished fishing communities in the municipality of Lubang in Mindoro, Philippines.
In the summer of 2009, Ryan co-founded eKindling, a nonprofit social venture that seeks to enhance educational opportunities for underserved children. eKindling, short for education kindling, got its start when Ryan discovered the organization One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and set a goal to expand its service to the Philippines. Since then, eKindling has raised more than $20,000 from donors across the globe and has partnered with OLPC to help provide their low-cost XO laptop to its intended audience: the world’s poorest children.
“I want to provide children in the Philippines with the educational opportunities that will allow them to dream bigger,” says Ryan.
Ryan and his family immigrated to the United States when he was 11 years old to escape poverty in the Philippines, settling in the Bronx, New York. He credits his parents’ sacrifice for the opportunities he’s had to travel the world, pursue a Fulbright and receive a first-rate education.
“My experience with Posse and at Wheaton helped me identify my passion for social entrepreneurship and find ways to make positive change in the world through business and creativity,” Ryan says.