In 1988 village residents of La Labor were attempting to establish a secondary school which would operate in the cooperative structure which the Guatemalan government proposed as an alternative to the public school.  Basically, this meant that there would be a sharing of financial responsibility among the government, the local civic communities, parents and outside donations. 

In 1989 Sister Kris began working with this project as an English teacher, then as principal in 1991.  Over the next ten years she would be instrumental in getting finanacial aid to build the Maria De Mattias Education Center --- a cooperative school, technical training site, adult education site, and community center.  Since 2001, she has been the school’s administrator, tending to ongoing teacher formation, interfacing with government agencies, and visioning to meet the needs of the area.

In the 15 years that she has been with the project, Sister Kris has seen much progress.  In the beginning, the average age of a graduate was around 20; now it is around 15 or 16.  The school population has grown from 47 students to 310.  Since the establishment of the school, the rate of early pregnancies has dropped dramatically in the 12 rural villages and 3 barrios of Guatemala City served by the Maria De Mattias Education Center. At this writing 7 graduates of the Education Center have returned to collaborate with the the 6 other teachers engaged in the project.