Hey! My name is Thomas Martinez and I was the leader for day 3 of our trip. I really wanted to get to be the first leader so I woke up an hour early in order to get the first sign up. My experience  was insanely awesome.

Today we got to listen to 2 people speak on their roles in the revolution and why they believe what they believe. We had to dress professional out of respect for the speakers. I happened to forget my clothes in the dryer at home so I did not have a button up shirt so I borrowed one from my super awesome friend Teddy. Shout out to Teddy!!! Our first speaker was a man named Leopoldo Villallta. Villallta is a journalist that criticizes the government. Our second guest speaker was a woman named Sonia Hernandez, she is a air force veteran who fought in the revolution. After all that we went to a place called Cerro El Calvario which is a main point in the revolution where you can see the whole city.  It was really windy there. Then we went home and had a night meeting about the upcoming day.

Today me and my peers learned that kids back in the day in Nicaragua had it very hard because of the laws that the government had. We also learned what people did to fight the government and make things the way they want.  For example, Sonia trained in the mountains for years and had to witness friends being shot and killed by the National Guard.

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This photo is for Ryan’s mom! Thanks for posting on our blog!!! We LOVE when parents post comments!

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Being leader was a great experience for me, especially because I was the first student leader. I got to wake everyone up in a crazy way too. I had to keep track of everyone and  deliver important information regarding the agenda. Through this whole experience I learned that I am a natural speaker and would have done a better job if I was more prepared. One problem I had was keeping track of time because I didn’t have a watch so I was constantly asking people for the time.