Meet Cintia Elenstar, an extraordinary choice to lead College Guild | Column
Cintia Elentar is the director of College Guild. (Courtesy of David Treadwell)
In March, Cintia and Christopher Elenstar moved to Jefferson from the Washington, D.C., area. Christopher had accepted the position as horticulture director at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. Cintia sought a leadership position at a small, mission-driven organization in Midcoast Maine. Her impressive résumé highlighted 20-plus years of experience guiding organizational growth across nonprofit, public and private sectors. She wanted to apply her proven leadership skills to working for social justice.
Sometimes serendipity strikes. While browsing through job openings, Cintia came across a post for a new director of College Guild based in Brunswick.
“As soon as I saw the post, I knew I wanted the job,” she said. “Not many agencies serve the prison population, but no one should be defined by the worst thing they did in their life.”
But, you might ask, what is College Guild? And how does the organization serve prisoners? Good questions. Good answers.
College Guild was founded by in 2001 to provide free, non-credit correspondent courses to incarcerated people from around the country. Today, such people can choose from among over 100 offerings ranging from Greek mythology to modern innovations and entrepreneurship; from writing an original play to government war and poverty; from astronomy to strange creatures of the sea.
When the student gets the assignment, he (or she) writes the answers and sends them by mail to College Guild. Each student gets assigned a volunteer reader who then gives a thorough written evaluation of the work. The student gets the evaluation and proceeds to the next assignment in the course. The reader only knows the prisoner’s first name, not where they are serving time or why.
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Let’s review the numbers. Since 2001, College Guild has served over 12,000 incarcerated people from all 50 states. There are currently 530 active students and 233 volunteer readers, many of whom live in other parts of the country. There are currently 880 people on the enrollment waiting list. Clearly, a huge demand exists among this population to learn, to be heard, to be respected.
Consider the volume of work handled by the College Guild staff, which includes just the director, two part-time employees and office volunteers. About 1,250 course units were mailed between January and June 2026 alone, even without a full-time director at the helm during that time. Talk about dedication.
Tracy, one of the two part-time employees, has worked for College Guild for 10 years. She currently serves as program manager, overseeing the day-to-day operations.
“I love knowing that I’m making a difference in the lives of people,” she said.
College Guild’s total annual budget is about $150,000. The cost of postage, copy paper and printing in 2025 was over $11,900.
When asked about the rewards of her job, Cinthia says, “I’m an optimist. I want to give hope to people who are often overlooked. I want to send the message, ‘We see you, we care about you.’”
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That message has been heard. Here’s a small sample of the hundreds of letters College Guild has received in recent years.
“This is an awesome opportunity that your program provides to many people like myself which now shines light on some dark and solemn days; this will keep my brain focused on things that can provide sharpening skills for my mind and also give alternatives to the seemingly endless that that masquerade my time.” – Ryan
“Thank you for the uplifting of fallen humanity and giving us wisdom and insight to remain focused on our abilities, and qualities within us to achieve. Thank you for being our silent, strong propeller of hope where all others have abandoned us.” – Tim
“Because of College Guild, I am able to believe that no human being — free or otherwise — is unlovable and unreachable. And with your help, and others like you, College Guild will continue to transform lives of those that were broken by poor choices and lack of education. That helps reduce recidivism, a very worthy cause, wouldn’t you agree?” – Donald T.
“Much love, admiration and respect to all of you, especially the behind the scenes folks. I don’t know you nor will I ever. I don’t need to. I just need to treat others like you treat us.” – Antonio
Cintia sees her biggest challenge as increasing the office staff in order to handle the volume of work, thereby reducing the size of the waiting list. She’s committed to getting the word about this extraordinary organization. Spend a few minutes talking with this charming visionary leader and you’ll be convinced that she’s more than up to the challenge.
Yes, sometimes serendipity strikes.
(NOTE: Go to collegeguild.org for more information on College Guild. To contact Cintia directly regarding ways you can help or to arrange a presentation, email her at [email protected].)
David Treadwell, a Brunswick writer, welcomes commentary and suggestions for future “Just a Little Old” columns at [email protected].
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