Humans of the American Nicaraguan School
Humans of ANS (HOANS), based on a project called “Humans of New York” (http://www.humansofnewyork.com/). The project highlights the lives of various individuals using clever photography and deep meaningful quotes or mini-interviews, combining them together for something beautiful. The Tiger Times has chosen to start our vary own version to show the diversity of our school, from our little humans to those who help make the school run. We present Humans of the American Nicaraguan School. Be sure to check back each month to see who will be featured next!
Claudio, 7th GaraderI am really proud of my family. One thing I enjoy about being in my family is that I am an uncle. Well, by know I am an expert in being one because I have ten nephews, which I really like because it means I have control over people. I mean I could probably make an army of nephews and could take over the world, but I won't do that because I am so over that. I remember when I became an uncle for the first time, I felt so grown up and mature and I have to say, I am really proud of my nephew Julio. I still remember when he told me he had found a little piece of “gold” in the beach and he was so excited. I mean, who wouldn't be excited by that?! I asked him why he didn't take it and he just said "I didn't take it because I want poor people to find it, so they can take it, sell it and have a better life". That just cut my heart in little pieces. In general, I am really proud of my family, especially my dad. My father is a role model for me, he has worked his whole life and never given up, not even when he was diagnosed with heart failure. My cousins are role models too. Not one in specific but all the twenty-six cousins. My family, it self, is a really weird one. For example, we are very injury-proud. Through my family history, there has been a lot of incidents. Anyways, the point is that my family has taught me to look for opportunities, to never give up and to keep going. During my life, the words of Milton Berle have been repeated to me over and over again "If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." So that's what I am going to do with my life, I am going to be the best I can and hopefully change the world. Leslie, 7th Grade StudentFamily and friends don’t know the impact they have on you. You wake up everyday, knowing you have their support and know that if you don’t have it, there are not real friends. Real friends are those who accept you for who you are, tell you to be true to yourself. Through the years, I learned a lot of stuff from my family. They told to be honest, to be myself and to be proud of who I am. That’s hard sometimes, feeling big, you know? There is so much people in the world, you just feel like another spawn in a bigger-scale chess board.Sometimes, when I am playing soccer, I feel big. Like, really big.Whenever I score a goal I feel like I am as tall as the sky. Every once in a while, it feels good to be the center of attention. Sometimes I forget what’s important in life and I just have to remember the wise words of Savas Dimopolous “Jumping from failure to failure with undiminished enthusiasm is the big secret to success.” The dude is pretty much just saying to never give up, to finish your job that you started. I just have to remind myself that once in a while, when I feel like not doing my homework. At the end, it’s up to you. If you ever want to feel big and be successful, you just have to try harder and harder until you get where you want to. Aliyah, 7th GraderI haven’t found my happiest moment yet; I am still waiting for it to happen. I am a boring person to interview, since I haven’t done anything interesting. Wait, are you literally typing everything I am saying?! Aghh. Okay, okay. So, something that was really hard for me was moving from Houston to Nicaragua. I really didn’t want to leave Houston. I was leaving my family and my friends behind...but everything is okay now. Nicaragua is an...interesting country. I made really good friends in Nicaragua and I know that they will be there for me when I need them. They might be kind of annoying, but I guess that doesn’t interfere between our friendship because I learn to tolerate them. It’s important to choose your friends wisely, since they have a greater impact in your life than you realize. There was a point in my life when I didn’t listen to my advice and I am just going to tell you, you don’t want to be in my position. My friends inspire me to be greater and better and to do what I like and I feel passionate about. I am really passionate about pretty much everything that has to do with music. I like making music, listening to music, hitting people with instruments...you know, normal stuff. After my friends and family, my favorite thing is music and sleeping goes afterwards. I seriously don’t know where I would be without sleep...umm. Probably in my locker...sleeping. The point is that many times not matter how bad things look, they get better.
María, 7th Grader (With Cinthia)“The idea of teaching more than a dozen hairy gigantic is not something particularly appealing to me, so I would prefer not to teach high schoolers. However, I wouldn’t want to teach little kids either, because they are not so independent and would probably need more care than usual. Sometimes they’re pretty annoying, so it would probably just drive me crazy. Although they would make me look taller...The point is that I would probably teach middle schoolers, because they’re just right. They’re in the middle, so they aren’t too little nor too big. What I would teach them? Well, I suppose I would probably teach English or Spanish since the teachers who teach those subjects are usually the sassiest teachers. But now that I’m thinking about it...maybe not Spanish. The tildes would just kill me. Yeah, so English it is. That would actually be pretty great. A lot of the teachers that have inspired me to follow my dream have taught English. Teachers like Mrs. Sheets, Mrs. Narvaez and also Ms. Frick. I think I would particularly want to be like Ms. Frick because she teaches you stuff without actually having the intention of doing it. Deep stuff. Sometimes here in Journalism we end up having interesting conversations, ones we don’t realize are deep until the class ends and you really think back on what we said. It’s really stuff to think about.
And I want to be known like that. Want to be known as that crazy, awesome curly-haired teacher that says memorable stuff and whom everyone remembers. Want to be known as the one who makes students actually want to start learning because they want to, not because they are forced to. Want to be remembered as the one who made them actually enjoy class and appreciate the education they’re getting. And I know some students and parents might not like my teaching methods in the future, but I don’t really care. Because well...they just can’t handle all this sparkle!” Cinthia, 7th Grader“When I was little, I made my own doll houses. I was really hands-on and I always loved creating things, making them from scratch. I was really motivated, especially since back then I had much more time than I do now. I watched Youtube videos with DIY tutorials, I went to stores and bought materials to construct things and I even received art classes on Saturday! During these classes, I liked to make paintings and wood crafts. In fact, there’s a ton of things you can do in wood crafts. Things like wooden frames, boxes, little crates and whatnot. Nowadays I only do that when I’m bored, since I am now more focused in school. Personally, I think I am a good student but there’s always room for improvement. I know I’m at a decent level but you should always try to change for the better. I think one of the reasons for this is my organization. I think everyone should have organization in their entire lives, not only academically. For example, my room is always very tidy and it’s pretty much perfect compared to my older sister’s. Pft, she is so disorganized. We are complete opposites. Anyways, I’m also organized in school. The handwriting in my work is neat, my binders are always in place and I always know where my things are. Really. Ask me to keep your notebook for a month and when the time is up I will still have it somewhere in my neat locker. My organization and my love for art are just two of the reasons I want to become an interior designer. I like decorating things and making them more beautiful. A lot of that is also based on my past travels. I’ve visited various beautiful places with my family, such as Cancun, Mexico; Colombia, Miami and New York. I’ve also gone to the Dominican Republic and it was just stunning there. I went to a beach in Punta Cana and I was so surprised by how clear the sand was there. It was cleaner and whiter than anything I could have ever imagined. In all, I really enjoy travelling and I hope that one day, I might visit an inspiring place like Italy or Hawaii so that I can use their beauty into my designing.
Finally, a piece of advice I would give out to everyone is not necessarily about organization, but about homework. You might think it’s a waste of time but I think it’s valuable because it’ll help you a lot when you grow up, especially when you have a job. You should be grateful for going to school, since it’s for your own benefit, your own success. School is for you to get educated, not your parents. It really is up to you.” Gabriel, 7th Grader“I’ll be honest and admit it: I’m an addict. I love gaming and sometimes, I might take five hours straight playing a game, maybe even more. And as much as I love doing that, I think that for others that’s a huge problem. I can control my addictions and I can balance them with my studying, but many others can’t. That’s one of the cons of video games nowadays: they’re often too addictive. People can’t stop playing them, until their life becomes an obsession about them. It’s pretty creepy, but it’s not entirely the player’s fault either. Today, games are much more realistic, and hold much less consequences. For example in Sniper Elite 2 and 3, if you get shot, the effects are much more graphic. It’s almost as if it were happening to you in real life...just without you actually dying. You can actually see the gore and blood pouring out of you. That affects a lot of people, because sometimes they think that can happen to them too if they actually do it. I think, though, that there are more important things than gaming. Better things. Family for example, is a big thing for me. I love my family. They’ve always been there for me and they’ve taught me all I know. Without them, I would probably never even be here in the first place. I feel so blessed and grateful for all they’ve given me, especially since they could be gone in one second like my great-grandmother. I never knew her, but my grandmother told me that one moment she had been fine, the next moment she’d been gone because of her cancer. And that’s why I’ve always paid attention to respecting my family. I try to look at things in their adult point of view to understand them better, and I keep all of our moments together in my heart. In my family, I feel especially attached to my mom since she taught me all the basics: all the colors, numbers and letters. For her to dedicate so much of her time for me is one of the reasons why she is the one who makes me want to be better. So in the end I just wanted to tell all the gamers out there to please not get one hundred percent into the game, because if you do, you start mixing that world to your reality. And when that happens, you won’t be able to see the beauty in life’s little things anymore.” Matthew, 7th grader (ICS)“Go to school, don’t be a fool.”
Anastasio, 6th grader“Do you like being called your nickname, Tomatito (little tomato)?”
“No.” Alfonso, 5th grader“A moment I regretted the most was when I talked back to my mom and insulted her. It was about phone issues. At that time, I felt like it was the right thing to do since I was just defending my rights, but now I feel like it was a mistake. It was disrespectful talking back to her and after realizing it, I quickly apologized. My family and I are actually pretty close. We’ve rarely had fights and we are always together. In fact, they’ve supported and taught me so many things. For example, my grandfather, one of my greatest inspirations, taught me to read and write prematurely. And I’m so lucky for that because I never struggled with those subjects at school, unlike other kids. After he died three years ago, I then looked up to my other grandfather for inspiration. He taught me a lot, but mostly about manners and respect towards others. He taught me that respect is essential nowadays, because without it, people wouldn’t be able to listen to others’ thoughts and ideas correctly. Because without respect, without people acknowledging each other properly, the world would definitely not work out. And I think that’s why respect is so important in the world. It tells others that you care, even if you aren’t quite familiar with them. It’s something my family and this school both have done so well through presentations, speeches, projects, demonstrations, and much more. That is why I would never dare disrespect a teacher, a fellow student or family member intentionally. Because I would never want to make people feel unwanted, unheard or unimportant...and I never have. There’s no need anyways. Everyone pretty much respects me.”
Ms. ChicaI am an architect but teaching here in ANS has taught me a lot about art. Of course, I didn’t always wanted to be involved in art. When I was in middle school I wanted to be a builder...for some reason. But being a teacher is actually interesting and it makes me feel proud of myself. When I feel the proudest is when I know that my students fully understand what I am teaching them. Believe it or not, that is a great challenge. Also, I love working with children, they remind me of my nephew Sebastian. I remember when I first met Sebastian, I think that was the happiest moment of my life. In fact, it was my little nephew who taught me that you can get mad at a person for too long, but that forgiving is just the best thing you can do, especially when it comes to family. Not forgiving your family is the worst thing you can do, especially when you don’t know when you will see them again. That always scares me, you know? I am scared of losing my relatives, which is why you always have to be in good terms with them. I remember when my uncle died, it was like my nightmare was my reality. Of course, before he passed away he taught me a couple of stuff. He taught me how to be strong because even when he was very ill, he kept fighting. Actually, that would be the advice I would give you. Be strong and give your best at everything you do. You might get discouraged, but it’s up to you to keep going. There are times when I get tired and just when I am about to give up, I remind myself that I have to give my best.
NicoleThe happiest moment in my life? I don’t know...I can’t decide...ummm. Oh yeah. The happiest moment in my life when all of my family and me were walking down the streets of Colorado and we saw this little box. It was just a little red box and yet, we made a huge deal about it...and then we bought taco hats. In fact, I am not going to the Special Olympics because I am going to Colorado for spring break vacation! Maybe I see the red box again...and buy more taco hats. I am just joking about the taco hats, by the way but we did went to a crazy hat shop. Life also has it sad moment though. The saddest moment in my life was when my grandma died. We were close. Well, as close as you can be to someone who lives half the world away, but yeah, we were close. What I like the most about her was that she was really different. She was active and positive. Of course, that doesn’t mean she was never sad. She was sad when her husband die, she also passed through many difficulties. She got sick with cancer four different times, she was brave you know? Life is short, do whatever you want as long as you are hurting nobody or anybody, including yourself. Oh, and also remember to be yourself and...stuff. Live with no regrets, even though I have some. I regret opening a lip gloss bottle with a knife. Please, don’t ask. I also regret every time I tell my sister or brother I hate them. Every single time. However, I haven’t done anything I regret and can’t take back...except that tattoo I got. Ha, I am kidding! I love joking! The best practical joke I have played on anybody was once, late at night, I was hiding and my mom was passing through and I just said “Hi” in a really squeaky and freaky voice and she got really scared.
Jay Long 7th Grade Science Teacher
“One of my happiest moments was when my children were born. I felt very lightened, very proud of myself. I was very happy at that point I also won 20,000,000 jackpot once, everything was going my way. I spent it all a while ago.”
“What is one of your greatest experiences here at ANS?” “Huh, thats a real question? The “greatest” experience. Ok, Well, it’s to finally get to know the students, and getting them to change a bit and make them stop talking. It’s fun to be a teacher, especially when students are finally quiet and learn to pay attention because they know that not paying attention goes against them” Mr. Ocon P.E. Teacher“One of my happiest moments of my life was when I had achieved that the boys and girls feel happy and cheerful on the activities we do in the sports. One experience I have is that not all the people are the same, each person has their problems and because of that we can give them a better attention and each person should respect themselves how they are.”
“What is another great experience you have, not in the school but in general?” “There are so many great experiences that people have acquired in life” “One of them is being a dad, another is that I have achieved professional things and that is when you can feel happy, as a child, as a parent and as a citizen when we achieve what the laws tell us. One of my saddest moment was when someone feels there is no way out, it can be a economic situation and it is difficult meeting with a situation you can’t do nothing, more than just waiting the time. Another thing that is sad is when you don’t have friends and you feel lonely but people have to overcome with the circumstances.” Felipe 2nd Grade
“My happiest moment of my life is my birthday! I like it because they give me a lot of toys and what I like the most about my birthday is the cake. One of my saddest moment was when I was very sick and I got very sad because I couldn't go to school. I missed the school and my friends a lot.”
“How did that make you feel?” “Sad very sad” Karmen 11th Grade
“ One of my saddest moment was when my grandma had a stroke..It felt weird because I was at my house and everyone was looking very sad, no one had told me what was happening but finally when my parents came and told me it was very sad and my dad was almost crying. On the other hand, one of my happiest moment was the first time I traveled, I went to Brazil and most of my family was there, we got to know many places and it was very cool.”
David LibraryI am David, emphasis on David. I work in the library as a librarian. It’s fun to work with exciting, funny, and friendly people, and to talk with kids all over the school, it is funny and interesting. My greatest achievement is my daughter who is 5 years old. I play some sports outside the school like football and basketball, it’s really fun to play that with my friends. Duke 7THHello, my name is Duke Davis. I’m in 7th Grade, and I like to be surrounded by interesting people. I once went to a Zipline that was over 1,000 meters high, and it was fun. Another time, I went swimming in a lake full of crocodiles, however, I didn’t not know that there were crocodiles. I was 15 ft away from one, I didn’t know until I got out, and I was really scared. This year, I’m leaving, I’m sad, but glad to be moving on to another place, a different place. My family and I like to travel a lot. I will miss all the friends I’ve acquired in the last 3 years. Honestly...I regret coming outside to be interviewed instead of going to the bathroom.
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Wei-Ting, 7th GraderIt was a book. A normal book, but it’s kind of funny that people forget how much power a single book can hold. I swear I could open any book and I would swallow the words, thirsty for a story and knowledge. So, yeah, it was a book. To be exact a hard-cover chapter book of 200 pages called “Crown Me,” by Kathryn Lay. Both my mom and my first grade teacher were pushing me to read because my grades were terrible. Words annoyed me and learning just didn’t appeal to me back then. But little by little, I became a book lover, developing my natural nerdy personality. I started wanting more stories, anything that would help me get out of reality. Then I became liking Mulan poem, especially because I could relate to her. Mulan showed her bravery, honor and ethics when she replaced her father during the war. I am preparing to be like her and when the time comes (because the time always come) I will show the best I can be. Okay, so anyways, then I started reading hard-core stuff. I guess that when you grow up, the books you read grow too. I really like the books by the Professor, or J.R.R. Tolkien. I mean, how can you not admire him? He wrote a whole universe out of scratch, invented more than five languages and created an entire mythology! The planning and plotting behind his stories is just...incredible. He once said “All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.” Are you going to tell me that is not inspiring? I really hope one day I can come up close to his talent.
Ms. Frick 8th Grade English and Journalism Teacher (Interview by: Maria) Good things and bad things will happen in life, but that doesn't define you. What defines you is the way you react to those things. Believe it or not, you might learn things from this actions. Oh, but the horrifying moments!The worst things about the horrible moments? They take you by surprise, you don't see them coming and when they hit you, you fall. I could say I felt like that when I got the news that my boyfriend got killed in Iraq. You know, that's the thing about life, you never know which day is going to be your last, so you might as well enjoy everyday. Even when everything seems lost, there is always hope. Take my sister for an example. I was in a horrible car accident and so was my sister, my sister got injured so bad that at first they thought she wasn’t going to survive. Yeah, but the doctors didn’t know her. They didn’t know how tough she is, so she survived. After that, the doctors told her she wasn’t going to be able to walk again. Again my little sister proved them wrong. She is able to walk, run, jump and practically do whatever she wants. So, yeah you never know what is going to be your last day because any minute you can be in an accident, get killed or get sick. So you better live your life happily and honorably. Don’t spread rumors, don’t form an opinion without knowing the facts, be kind.... it’s the little stuff that make you a great person. Ms. Frick (Interviewed by: Wei-Ting)“Horror isn’t my greatest cup of tea, but nevertheless, I read it. I am very open towards all books and genres, seeing as I like reading so much. I read anything - from YA books, to mystery, to chick flick and much more. I’m currently reading The Killer Instinct by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and it is very good! This book is the second one of her The Naturals’ series and it is about this young girl who is a natural, very talented profiler. She is teamed up with these other teenagers with similar natural abilities and who are called by the FBI to help them solve cases. But of course, these cases end up dragging her and the team deeper and deeper into mysterious conflict...Anyways, the characters that annoy me the most in books are the types in which they are under or overestimated by their authors. Sometimes, when an author is trying to write a character who is much younger than they are, they often make it more mature or more childish than for someone their age. It simply unnerves me. A 16 year old does not act like an eleven year old, and neither does a five year old act like an eight year old. Perhaps the character is under a certain set of circumstances, but authors should keep their characters’ ages as they should be.
In fact, I often find it frustrating when people underestimate me. When I was young, I was an average student and I never really did stand out. But when I graduated from university with the highest honors and also entered an Ivy League school, I am confident that I proved more than 90% of my high school and my acquaintances wrong. Of course, I would never have achieved things as large as those if it weren’t for my passion and the support of my friends and relatives. I really do love my family and am very close to them. Currently, my parents live in Europe, while my two sisters, one older, one younger, both live in the United States with jobs related to athletics. Originally, I wanted to be a forensics anthropologist, but mid-way throughout university I suddenly switched to teaching, since I wanted to travel the world. And my family was understanding enough to accept that decision and to support me in everything I did, which is something I am extremely grateful for. But I am very glad that I became a teacher and I’m very happy that I got to come here to Nicaragua. It’s been a very warm experience and I’m especially elated to have taught Journalism. Our current team is just so rich and culturally diverse, full of different personalities and a lot of different strengths. So different that at first, I was worried they wouldn’t fit together, but I was wrong, since everyone has co-existed quite nicely to make the newspaper. However, something I wish we could improve is the time for the newspaper production, which I hope might be reduced to two weeks in the near future. But in all, I do not regret becoming a teacher at all. Teaching my students to have awareness, to be conscious of the problems and conditions around them, is something very important for them to learn, particularly when it comes to global problems. It’s important for those of us who have the life we have to go out, share and give back to our fellow men and women. None of us are better than each other and we need to get that in our heads. We need to start living selflessly, not selfishly. And of course, it’s hard to do that. Even I let myself do it all the time, without knowing! But it’s all right, it’s all right...because we’re all human. We need to comprehend that. We need to learn from our mistakes and go forward using them to make better choices. And as Dumbledore, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets book, once said: "It is our choices... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." Frank, 7th Grader“I think it’s funny that my greatest strength has become my greatest weakness. I’m creative and that’s definitely my strongest point. I never want to be stuck with the ordinary. So instead, I’m inspired by everything around me, especially entertainment. Entertainment is a very big thing for me since I really love it. I’m always keeping track of the latest movies, especially the ones including fantasy, sci-fi or anything supernatural. Those kinds of films are the ones that help me define me as who I am. They make me see myself as an engineer, so that I can one day build the things I see in those movies. Oh yes, that’s definitely one of my greatest goals: because one day I’m going to build Iron Man, no matter what it takes. But why do I want to do this? Well, it’s just very inspiring knowing that one day I may help the world become a better place with my innovations just like my idols Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs did. Who are they? Well, let me start. Elon Musk is an engineer and the owner of Tesla Motors, along with SpaceX. He has also built many shuttles and small rockets that go up to space to explore and map the remainder of the world we don’t know. Bill Gates is a computer programmer and founder of Microsoft. I admire him a lot since he has connected all these kinds of people and innovations together with the work he’s done. I mean, right now Windows is the only working operator for most computers all over the world...except for Macs, obviously. But not only that. Bill Gates doesn’t only want to help his family and his company, but others in the world. He just has such a good heart. And last of all, Steve Jobs used to be the owner of Apple. As a young man, he and his friend Steve Wozniak built one of the first keyboard-connected computers to write in the screen, a Macintosh. Then... he made desktop computers and the world has been different ever since.
But being creative isn’t entirely good, as I stated above, because if you have too much of it you might have what I call a ‘creativity overload.’ You just start over thinking things, trying to perfection ideas and just exaggerating everything until it gets out of control. For example, I was trying to launch a rocket but because I had a creativity overload, I’d put the inadequate engine in the rocket and it literally just blew up in my face. So it ended up a failure. But I know that I can succeed in engineering one day, and until that day comes I’ll just keep trying. I’ll continue drawing my dream inventions and planning out my blueprints. I’ll continue getting old materials and turning them into something better than anyone thought it would be. And that’s my advice for everyone. You should always try to do more than what is enough. Because when you want to do something, than do something bigger than what others would expect you to do.” Arlín, 7th Grader“Yeah, I’m a good goalkeeper. People tell me that all the time and I won’t deny it. I am pretty good. The coaches always call me up during games when they’re in deep need of help and they even say that I have a shot at having a future career in soccer, something I would really love to have. I would be especially happy if I got into my favorite team, FC Barcelona, which I have looked up to since I was really little. Why Barcelona? Well, not only are they one of the best teams in the world but they also have excellent sportsmanship. They’re never selfish and they always apply that into their game play. They’re always giving passes to each other and they work so smoothly together as a team, something which I highly admire. Besides, they are in serious need of good goalkeepers...just saying. But that’s the truth; Barcelona doesn’t really have any good goalkeepers. The title of best goalkeeper belongs to Manuel Neuer, who is currently part of the team Bayern Munich. He’s won the Golden Glove about five times and he was nominated by FIFA as one of the top players in the world, despite being just the goalkeeper. He’s my greatest inspiration to become better and has taught me that there is always room for improvement, especially by receiving feedback from others.
But being a soccer player isn’t easy. That includes being the goalkeeper. It requires a lot of intensive training. I can testify for that, since I’m from the team and the coach always gives us five different types of exercises in order to improve our speed, skill and stamina, as well as power. But in my opinion, I think the most important skill in soccer is the ball control. Because if you can’t do that, you simply will never play soccer well. For example, an amateur, or someone who’s never really trained in soccer properly, will just kick and kick and kick the ball. But he or she will never have full control on the ball’s path compared to someone who already knows their game and how to play. They obviously won’t have the same results. Another challenging thing are injuries, which I think are the worst part of soccer. They’re painful and that’s another thing I can testify for. Once, I was goalkeeping and in order to block the ball, I fell forward and my entire body’s weight crushed onto my hand. I broke one finger in my hand, a bone in my shoulder and was left with a lot of pain in my hand’s three middle fingers. But other than those minor things, I love soccer. It makes me happy. It makes me feel alive. But my advice for other soccer players out there is that in sports, you need to have good sportsmanship and be humble when learning new techniques or in games. So when you lose, you have to learn to be a good loser; and when you win, you have to be a respectful winner to the other team so to not offend them. Because if you do, that can bring...‘bad things,’ to put it lightly.” Autumn, 7th grader“The hardest moment I’ve had in life? Well, it’s got to be the math test we just had. Because the math was pretty hard. But I think that what everyone needs to do in order to overcome such challenges is to have more confidence and just embrace their inner, crazy selves! They should be able to be happy with who they are and not depend on others’ words to define them. They should feel proud about their personalities and be willing to defend that. It doesn’t matter if the victory is small, like finally realizing that your friends aren’t making any blonde jokes at you anymore. If you’re happy, that’s the most important thing. My late Grandfather taught me that. That, and that if I got 50 candies for a dollar, I had a deal. So in all, be yourself, world peace, and bunnies!”
Julianna, 7th grader (ICS)“In order to be part of the ‘Take Flight’ program, you first need to apply and write an essay interpreting a certain quote or value, which is actually pretty easy. But it also takes a lot of time and effort, since after you pass that evaluation, we have to clear out our schedules to meet up every Friday. During this time, we discuss ethics with each other and reflect on our past and future experiences. In the end though, it’s very gratifying. Anyways, we arrived here in Nicaragua just yesterday evening and at that moment, I’d felt a bit homesick. I didn’t really know what to expect, especially since I’d never been out of the country alone before. My house and my family had basically all pretty normal, so this will definitely be an unique opportunity. But now, all those feelings are long gone. Nicaragua is so different from Philly, but in the good way. Here everybody is so nice and welcoming, and it’s quite evident how well everyone knows each other! Back at home, people kind of just go their own way, and sometimes you don’t really know who to trust. Like here you can walk down the streets without fearing for your life, but in Philly...you’ve just got to watch your back! Really, Philadelphia is even nicknamed ‘Killadelphia’ for the massive amount of shootings we have. Besides, I love how colorful everything is here! Philly seems so much more black and white compared to Nicaragua. Oh, and there’s the weather too. It’s incredibly hot, but considering Philly is going to snow on Saturday and is currently several degrees below zero... it’s a pleasant change! Still though, I hope that I get to know more of Nicaragua. Right now, ‘Take Flight’s purpose is to integrate us into the global community to get a better idea of the cultural differences in the world, in this case between the U.S. and Nicaragua. They want us to get immersed in the culture, and to be here in Nicaragua to help the people. We’re even going to Chacocente to build them a building tomorrow. In all, we want to show them we’re here to help them and that we are nothing special, just people with a good cause. We aren’t American tourists. We’re not here for a vacation...we’re just normal people, normal people here for them.”
Jack, 7th grader (ICS)(With his ANS buddy, Julio)
“I really don’t see the difference between Nicaragua and Philly. I mean, you guys kind of have the same things we have. It makes me realize how similar we actually are, and yet how different...For example, you guys seem to have the same facilities we have, but there are differences, like say, architecture. In Philly, it’s just one concrete house after another in one straight road. It’s all pretty normal. But here, the houses are all different sizes and colors and it’s all quite disproportionate. And you know, I honestly have no idea what we’re doing here, but I just hope that with this experience I can learn to be more grateful for what I have. My grandfather, who passed away, always told me to be thankful for the things I possessed...but I had never truly considered that idea in depth until I’d seen some homeless people in the park near where I live. That made me truly realize the severity of the issue, and how important it is to address it.” Ms. IrisI am always the happiest when I am with my family. That could be because I know how it feels to lose someone who you love.I lost my brother, which I loved because he was so caring and kind. This is my advice to you: love life because it’s beautiful. Always stay positive. Even in the hardest times I try to follow my advice...I have to say, I did a pretty good job at it. I stayed positive all the way while I finished my career at the university. I am proud of myself because I got to study education. It wasn’t like I always wanted to study that. In fact, in middle school I wanted to study medicine, but then in high school I decided to become a teacher. I don’t and I will never regret becoming one. I love learning from my own students. They are the ones that measure how good you are as a teacher. The hardest thing about being a teacher is the planning and keeping everything in order.
DamariI started running when I was little, my dad just told me "Come on, we are going running." I put myself together, I picked up the pace and I was running. I think this is my fifth year in a running competition. I even won the 100 meter run. It's not the first time I win, I won other two races....umm...I really hope they give me my medal today...I am so excited! My family is really supporting and so is Los Pipitos. I have been in Los Pipitos since I was little, always doing therapy. The trick to winning is always being positive, yeah that it. Just be happy and positive and active and simply yourself.
Damari’s MomI love selling on the streets, I really like that part of my life. It not all good, though. The thing I like the least is that I never know if today I will have enough money to buy enough food for me and my family. When I don't have enough money for the things I sell, I just have to stay at my house. That's not the worse though. The father of my children won't give me money for the kids, and I really don't know what to do. I don't have a lot of family, just my two kids who are here and another daughter,who have been going to the Pipitos since they were little. I really like this Special Olympics, yeah I really like it. Seriously, I am very grateful. I am especially grateful that my kids can study and that they don't have to work. I think education is really important. The truth is, I am really proud of my kids. The truth is, I am very thankful for the life my kids got to have.
Ricardo 2nd Grade
“One of my happiest moment was when I came to ANS. I was happy to enter and it was the second school I have been to. I love ANS, it’s a fun school, I met many people when I came for the first time. My favorite place to be at is the library, I can read many books. I love reading Magic Treehouse books, they teach me facts about people that are famous in the world history”
Xavier Alejandro
“ My happiest moment is when Jesus came into my life. I am very religious, when I saw what jesus meant, it changed my life in many ways. He is very special to me. One of my saddest moment was when I was little and my grandmother died. It was shocking at first, when I was in school, my parents never came to pick me up early, when they came it felt weird and looked weird to me.”
Mrs. Bobbii
“I volunteer in the children’s library, I read stories to all the elementary classes and I do that every week. I’ve been doing this for 9 almost 10 years. One of my saddest moment of my life was when my father died, it maked me feel really really sad and my father and I had a wonderful relationship, we were lucky to have that you know when you realize you are not gonna have that anymore its sad and its worst when you are really close to your parents like I was with him. One of my happiest moment of my life was when I gave birth to my daughter Mrs.Samantha. Shes been president of the PTO here for 3 years. One of my greatest experience at this school its a on going thing because just reading to children who are all sitting there absolutely wrapped and chanted listening to every single word you say and the look on their little faces is payment in need because I am a volunteer. I don’t get payed for what I do but I love kids and I love doing what I do!
“Well thank you for the interview” “Okay you are very welcome, I thought when you asked me what was one of the happiest thing I almost was gonna say swimming with humpback whales, it had nothing to do with this conversation!” William STAFF“ I am 42 years old and I have 2 years working at ANS, one of my greatest experiences was when I came to work to ANS. I feel great, people treat me well and I feel like we are a community. I don’t think there is a sad moment in life for humans, it is us that sometimes make the moments sad and bad but when the human tries to work and uses the time to work or make another thing I think there is no bad moment. What we do is we make bad the moments because we want so but as a human I think bad moments don’t exist. One advice I can give to ANS students is to take advantage the effort your parents do to have you in this school and that you make a effort so you can go forward and make yourself better because you are the future. As people say now we are in the 3rd stage of our lives and you are the seed, the fruit of us and we think that you are gonna be better than we are and that you take advantage and make an effort.”
Anneliese 11THMy name is Anneliese Gonzalez. I’m in 11th grade, and I like to sing, I participated in the ANS Idol. When I grow up, I want to be a journalist, and well, a mom too. My greatest experience is going to AASCA Cross Country, it’s a competition in Central America where you get to compete against other people from different countries. I like it because I got to meet people from all over the world, it is very nice.
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