Hi everyone! This blog post is written by your next el lider del dia, Jacqui Dimalanta.

I want to first apologize for not having the blog post up last night. Unfortunately, the internet turned off again. But anyways, here’s some exciting highlights of our day yesterday…

Today’s theme is education. During the first half of our day, we had a seminar on how education in Nicaragua is different of that in the United States. Through this seminar we learned that education is pretty important to us, as Americans. As Summit students specifically, most of us strive to get into college and use our education to help us in the real world. However in Nicaragua, many people do not even go on to study in universities. Recently, the government has started campaigning to raise the literacy rate of their country. Currently, it is mandatory to attend kindergarten through 6th grade (primary school). Secondary school is only 7th through 11th grade. A little over 90% of kids are enrolled in primary school. However, only 50% of kids enroll in secondary school. Furthermore, in some communities (like Palo de Lapa), only up to 5 kids actually go on to study at a univeristy.

After this seminar, we took a private bus to La Escuela Especial (The Special School) where we played with the kids. All of the schools in Leon do not have special education programs inside their schools. All kids with learning disabilities attend this school. Unfortunately, not all of the kids showed up. This is because all of the kids commute by the school’s private bus and the bus today had a mix up. However, we had a ton of fun with the kids today. Some of us learned braille. Some of us cooked food. Some of us played basketball and kickball during recess. But, one of the main highlights of this experience was seeing Dove, Skylar, and Moses carry kids on the backs and run around.

“Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” -Malcom X