Exploring Leon
This year Cadence and I added a new component to our Without Limits sponsorship program. this year we are taking all of our students 6th grade-5th year of high school on field trips (pictured below on top of the cathedral in Leon with our Santa Matilde students).
We have now taken 3 field trips with our 6th-7th graders to do a history of Leon tour. In each field trip we toured churches, visited two museums (Myths & Legends and Revolutionary War) and toured the cathedral. I love these opportunities to get our students out of their regular lives to experience new parts of their nation and adventure together. I have absolutely loved these days with them! (Pictured below- Jennifer, Makeyling, Maryuri and Grethel, a few of our Candelaria 7th graders)
Our first field trip, in February, was with our 6th-7th graders from Santa Matilde (pictured below in front of El Calvario Church). We took 18 students who were wide-eyed with excitement. Most of them had never been to Leon (outside of the bus terminal at least) and every experience was new and filled with joy. I loved to see their expressions as we came to each new place and to see them push themselves to try new experiences. Their awe and joy together stood out the most to me.
Our second field trip was in March with twelve 6th graders from Candelaria, Nuevo Amanecer and La Isla. These kids are just the sweetest! I loved exploring, climbing to new heights (literally), seeing Allan love learning history and laughing so much in the Myths & Legends Museum (Esmeralda, Odalis, Suley and Claudia pictured below in the Myths & Legends Museum).
But the beautiful moments of their kind hearts shining through is what I remember most about this trip– the girl who helped the waitress clear all of our plates at the restaurant, the girls on the park bench signing with the little bit of sign language that they learned in school last year to try and talk to the deaf teen seated next to them and the two who gave away their snack money to an elderly beggar in a wheelchair because, according to them, “She needed it more than me so it was the right thing to do.” These loves teach me so much about living out kindness (All of them pictured below at Kiss Me getting ice cream).
Our last history of Leon trip was in April with our sassy 7th graders from Candelaria, Nuevo Amanecer, and La Isla (All of our 7th graders pictured below on the roof of the Revolutionary War Museum). This group was almost all girls (12 girls and 1 boy). These pre-teens have so much personality! It was so much fun exploring the city with them. This age is so different than even the year before. These girls walked through the city and rather than really focusing on the sights of the city they were window shopping. I loved to see them laughing together all day and even all the way back to Chichigalpa. They were singing and laughing so hard that Grethel even fell out of her seat! These pre-teens are walking through one of the most difficult ages where they first begin to chose who they want to be. There is so much sass in this group, but I love the chance to pour into them and to walk with them through these decisions about who they want to be.
Having the opportunity to explore Leon with these three different groups of students over the last three months has been such an incredible experience. I love adding in field trips in order to adventure with our students, spend more time just enjoying them and providing new experiential learning opportunities! I’m also really grateful that we have some friends that really love to spoil our kids when we’re in Leon! Jose and everyone at Volcano Day took all three of our groups on tours of the city without charging us anything. Our kids learned a lot, enjoyed the day immensely and even got free t-shirts. Ben and Sheena and the workers at Kiss Me provided our kids with free, delicious ice cream. We really appreciate all the people who love our kids well and help us to provide these opportunities for them.
