“Worldwide 780 million adults and 103 million young people (ages 15-24) are illiterate.” Today on Education Day, we were able to see the importance and power that attaining an education can provide. Glimpsers were able to differentiate the school culture between Nicaragua and America, and because of that, we were able to appreciate the privilege of attending school.

In the morning, Glimpsers woke up bright and early at 5:30 AM to head to Diocesano (a private school) where we shadowed students in their classes. This gave us the opportunity to learn the environment and culture of schools in Nicaragua and understand the school system. As we quickly learned, classes were rowdy and loud, and teachers did not regulate the behavior of their students. It was surprising to see the lack of a role model in the classroom which influenced the students to focus on other things besides paying attention. Teachers had a mentality of not caring if the students did not care about studying. This kind of mentality negatively impacts how a student can feel about studying and distracts them from paying attention.

Throughout the busy day, we were most proud of our group being proactive during the guest speaker questions. As we visited sites like Puedo Leer, Hotel Corazon, and Diosecano, most of us grew tired of constantly walking in hot, humid weather. However, we were able to remain interested in each session and be inquisitive. The energy of our group bounces off each other, and we continue to support one another. This kind of support gets us through long days that are packed with many activities.

We are both sure that out of the four speakers we had today, the Glimpsers could not pick a favorite one. We first met with Ana Elizabeth, who is a director of Puedo Leer, and a local librarian. They both told us about their goal of sharing a love for reading amongst local children because reading gives the children power. Later on in Hotel Corazon we met two speakers, Luis and Xiomara. Luis told us about his career as an illustrator (he specifically illustrated for children’s books) and Xiomara told us about her work with girls at risk for sex trafficking. All for of these people were just so passionate with the goals of their work and it was truly inspirational. Xiomara and Luis specifically told us about the importance of finding a purpose in life, and working towards a goal of happiness.

For both of us LDDs, being in this role was definitely something new. From having to wake up earlier than everyone to ensuring everyone was always drinking enough water, it was a new role neither of us had ever experienced. We faced a little bit of troubles with the rowdiness of the group when it was night, but we were both happy seeing them all keep their energy throughout the long day.

We both learned a lot about ourselves today. From learning to be more grateful for the education we are provided with at home to learning to be more loud as LDDs it was a very impactful day. It was also our first day of English tutoring, which is were not only us LDDs learned a lot about ourselves, but every student as well. Every Glimpser had their own experience with tutoring this first day, but overall it seemed everyone enjoyed it, and is looking forward to coming back in the days to come. Doing English tutoring definitely helped all of us to learn what kind of teachers we are as well.

This day was full of many adventures for the glimpsers. We all had the chance to go out of comfort zones when interacting with the students we shadowed and tutored. We are both looking forward to the next English tutoring sessions to come, and to also continuing to grow as leaders throughout the rest of the trip.

With speakers Xiomara and Luis at Hotel Corazon.

1st night of English tutoring!

Beginner Class