OUR TEAM
director
Dr. Winston Scott, PhD
Winston Kent Scott has conducted research and been deeply engaged with Mayan language communities in Guatemala, the United States, and Canada since 1996. A cultural anthropologist by training, Dr. Scott’s work has focused on social and economic impacts of large-scale agriculture in rural Guatemala municipalities, sociolinguistic mobilization within Indigenous communities, and traditional religious systems. He has taught courses on these topics at the University at Albany, SUNY. Dr. Scott has dedicated years working amidst Q’eqchi’, Kaqchikel, and K’iche’ Mayan language groups in Guatemala and has participated in and taught courses dedicated to these languages. Since 2015, Dr. Scott has been continuously involved in assisting Indigenous Guatemalan immigrants to the United States in receiving access to legal, medical, and educational services in their native languages. Dr. Scott has also volunteered as a project director for programs that are dedicated to assisting Indigenous Guatemalans to gain access to medical and mental health resources in their native languages for alcohol and substance abuse.
technical coordinator
Alex Chulzhanov
administrative assistant
Cassandra (Cassie) Bruggeman
Meet Cassandra (Cassie) Bruggeman, Administrative assistant for the Mayan Languages Preservation project. Cassie has been with the project since almost the beginning, coming on board in August 2023 as a volunteer intern for one of her college courses.
Cassie lives in Chicago Illinois with her loving husband of 8 years and her energetic 3-year-old son. She loves exploring new areas, trying new foods, and reading Si-Fi novels. Currently she is in university pursuing a BA in Cultural Anthropology and will be graduating in March 2025!
Cassie does a lot behind the scenes work from her home office in Chicago, IL. She gathers audios and visuals, converts them to compatible formats, and uploads them to our wiki page (which by the first week of January will have hit 5,000 terms/phrases). She also does many other side quests such as taking oral histories and maintains audio archives.
She enjoys working closely with our interpreters, CS interns, and other team members on this initiative because she believes that everyone regardless of creed, class, ethnicity, or language should have access to methods of communication and representation that are ethical and affordable. This project is an excellent endeavor that gives her pride and a sense of purpose in her work, knowing that her work behind the scenes is helping to preserve a culture and aid the Maya Communities in raising awareness for Guatemala and its peoples.
project coordinator
Dulce Maria Horn
Dulce María Horn (she/ella) is a community activist and organizer who works primarily with immigrant rights. Her journey as an activist began at the tender age of two when she joined the anti-war movement with the encouragement of her father.
Throughout her life, she has been involved in a wide range of movements, from anti-war to human/child rights to immigrant rights. For the past 10 years, Dulce has supported a non-profit organization, Camino Seguro, located in Guatemala City, Guatemala. From 2018 to 2021, she worked with Comunidades Undias, a non-profit organization in Utah, USA, taking on many roles, including Youth Leader and Voter Empowerment Organizer. From 2020 to 2023, she worked with Whittier College’s Center for Engaging with Communities to connect the college with the surrounding area.
As an international adoptee from San Marcos, Guatemala, Dulce feels a deep connection to Guatemala and Latin America as a whole. She maintains these vital connections through family, language, and culture. She reconnected with her birth family at the age of fifteen. Her families, birth and adoptive, guide and support her in reconnecting with her identity. As a bilingual adoptee (Spanish/English), Dulce feels relatively privileged, in comparison to many non-bilingual adoptees. Language unites people. Language connects people to their past and present. Dulce deeply understands how language and culture are interconnected. Using her language skills, the world opened up to her and allowed her to connect to different peoples and cultures. At present, Dulce is embarking on a new journey — learning Mam, an Indigenous language of Guatemala and Mexico. Before the genocide in Guatemala, her birth family spoke Mam but in the years since, the language has been lost to them. She hopes to reunite the past with the present through her study of Mam.
Dulce graduated cum laude class of 2023 from Whittier College (Los Angeles, CA) with a Bachelor of Arts in Global and Cultural Studies and Spanish, with a minor in Political Science.
junior web developers
Wyatt Bruchhauser
I am Wyatt Bruchhauser from Eagle Mountain, Utah. I am studying Software Development at the University of Utah with a minor in Anthropology and a certificate in Computational Linguistics. I am a Coding Intern with The Mayan Language Preservation Project. The Mayan Language Preservation Project has been the perfect internship for me because not only do I combine my passions of understanding people and building technology, but I contribute to a project that is having a real positive impact into people’s lives while preserving the cultural beauty of the world.
Abigail Blatter
I am Abigail Blatter from Salt Lake City Utah. I am studying Computer Science and Chinese at the University of Utah. I am an intern working with the Mayan Language Preservation Project. I have been passionate about preserving languages, and cultures for years. I am excited to be apart of this Project.
Alice McVicker
interns and technical support
Cameron Kato
Chris Marston
Chris is an aspiring software engineer with degrees in computer science and anthropology who enjoys using technology to solve problems that make a positive impact on people’s lives. Outside of work, you’ll find Chris running, hiking, reading, drawing, and playing D&D.
Jack Revoy
I’m Jack, a senior at Rowland Hall. I’m interested in computer science and computer engineering and have been a part of my school’s robotics team for the past three years. I also like volunteering and making a difference, so I am excited to be part of this project that combines these two interests.
Elena Vega
My name is Elena and I’m a student at the University of Utah. I enjoy technology and linguistics and especially the intersection between the two. I like working with local communities as a means to explore my surroundings and am always excited to meet new people!