Politics is not always the most pleasurable topic to discuss between teenagers, but as the student leader of the day I believe that the Glimpser’s were fascinated by the mayor. They got to see firsthand how it is to be the first women mayor in San Juan. Mayor Hanoi Sanchez was not only the first woman mayor, but was also the first person to get re-elected. She has been office since 2006 she is now on her second term, each term is five years, and she continues to grow as a community leader and as a role model for women in politics. Hanoi Sanchez has created groups for the disabled by offering them jobs, women by giving them a variety of opportunities, and also for people that have anti-social problems by trying to get them involved with their community. Her advice that she gave the Glimpser’s were basically broke down into three areas: believing in yourself, working with your community, and focus on how unique you are.

Our delegation with Mayor Hanoi Sanchez

Our delegation with Mayor Hanoi Sanchez

After meeting with the Hanoi Sanchez we headed towards the Orlando Martinez Museum. Orlando Martinez was a journalist who printed controversial articles that exposed the corruption on the government and was a farm worker activist because of this he was assassinated in his car. The students after both of these field trips were both in awe and inspired of how much one person can create a change. For example, I think that one important lesson we learned today was that if you create your dent in the world you will never die, like Orlando Sanchez stood for his people his presence will always remain. The next activity the Glimpser’s got to do was call home. Everyone had the opportunity to call home and have that chance to see how their families were. Many of the Glimpser’s got emotional after not hearing their loved ones voices. The next important part was having our Community Action Project part 2 (CAP2) seminar. This is where we got to choose which project we would want to be a part of and how we would approach solving a problem in the community. Later on we had English Class for two hours and everything went smoothly.

Fernanda Aguilar teaching her student

Fernanda Aguilar teaching her student

The last task of the day was our nightly meeting. Every Glimpser got to share roses and thorns and followed by sharing big loves. As usual we ended it with an amazing laugh and we are exciting, waiting for the next day. Over all, as being leader of the day it was definitely a challenge to get everyone on time and making sure everyone is having fun. Today’s agenda was packed and we nailed it every time we had to be somewhere at a specific time. Today I think everyone learned that if we set our mind to anything, whether its being a great leader or pursuing politics, we can achieve it without a doubt.