Board Members
Scott Muzychka, President/Treasurer
Scott is a bean counter with a passion for travel. Scott’s family places a very high value on education and they support the work HYTES does in providing education. As one of the original co-founders of HYTES, Scott has been actively involved since HYTES’ inception in 2006.
Favour Simoongwe, Vice President
Favour Simoongwe is an educator who has taught in Zambia and in Alberta, Canada including in Morley at the Stoney Nakoda First Nation. Through this diverse experience, Favour has developed a special connection and passion for the education of the highly vulnerable in society. This is why he joined HYTES in late 2017 as a volunteer, and a board member in early 2020. In 2018 and in 2019 Favour visited the HYTES sponsored students in Zambia and saw first hand the incredible difference this organization is making in the lives of the students and their families.
Together with his wife Fiona and their three children, Favour has been fortunate to call Cochrane, Alberta home for the last 20 years (and counting) where he enjoys nature walks and bike rides by the rolling foothills of the Rocky Mountains and the meandering Bow River Valley. The Simoongwes also enjoy camping within Canada, and traveling internationally.
Jan McGregor, Director
Jan McGregor has been a HYTES volunteer and Board member since 2006 when her daughter Glenna taught in a secondary school in Tanzania, bringing home stories of enthusiastic and eager youths striving to get an education but so often blocked by a lack of money for school fees… an amount of money that is small by Canadian standards but insurmountable for youths in Africa. Jan also spends many hours walking her dog Gypsy and cross-country skiing and hiking in the mountains with her husband Cam and daughter Glenna.
Elisa Woodard, Director
Elisa Woodard is a Consultant with software company OpenText. She loves HYTES simple but effective focus on education as the key to bringing equity and balance to the global community. An avid traveler, she looks forward to visiting HYTES supported sites in the future.
Maria Degethoff, Secretary/IT Specialist
Maria Degethoff started volunteering with HYTES in 2017. Maria travelled to many countries and heard from locals about the lack of financial assistance for education. “If you’re born poor, you stay poor,” was an unsettling theme that many of the locals expressed. Upon her return to Calgary, she looked into non-profit organizations that she could volunteer with to help children in other countries reach their education goals, and she has been with HYTES ever since. In her daily life, Maria is a dental hygienist and enjoys snowboarding, spending time with friends and family, and travelling.
Eric Amalaku, Director
Eric is one of HYTES’ co-founders, original board members, and country representative for Kenya. Challenges experienced while pursuing his own secondary school education there helped to inform the HYTES’ mission and operations. Eric moved from Nairobi to Edmonton as a newlywed in 2006 and in the intervening years has kept busy working in IT, construction, aviation, youth development and landscaping, serving as Chair of the Kenyan Community in Edmonton Association, and raising two beautiful daughters, Eunice and Shela, along with his wife Pam. He is excited to rejoin the HYTES Board in 2023 after a long hiatus, and can’t believe how the organization has grown and matured over the years.
Jesse Mclean, Director
Jesse McLean is a Professional Engineer in Alberta, Canada and has been a volunteer with HYTES for 5 years. Loves sciences, math (weird right) and feels very strongly that every child has the right to basic education no matter where they come from. Really enjoys travelling and met his beautiful wife on Mbezi Beach, in Tanzania. They have 3 children and when he actually gets a few spare minutes enjoys playing hockey, softball, and trying to whack a golf ball around.