Managua, Nicaragua Lincoln International Academy June 13th, 2019 To our dearest readers, Thank you for picking up our final edition of this 2018-2019 school year! With this release, we are proud to highlight all of the great athletic and academic achievements done through this year by the students at our school. In particular, we would like to congratulate the class of 2019 for their graduation, and to the rest of you for successfully completing the 2019-2019 school year. Despite the challenges, you were able to make it until the end. Overall, we had a really good year with the newspaper. We were able to improve our quality exponentially, and it all happened because of you. You were always attentive of our releases, and always checking our events and activities on social media. Thank you very much. We wish you nothing but the best this summer, and hope to see you next year. Go Hawks! Best Regards,
Alejandro Castillo, President and Editor in Chief Ana Velarde, Vice-President and Social Media Director Henry Cabrera, Secretary and Logistics Director Yosibel Cabrera, Public Relations and Head Photographer Carlos Icabalceta, Vocal and Media Sub-Director Kassandra Chung, Middle School Coordinator Alejandra Sequeira, Middle School Coordinator Ana Valverde, Teacher Advisor 1
IN THIS EDITION 4
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CATCHING UP W/ MRS. PILLERS Loehrl Pilers
VOLLEYBALL HIGHLIGHTS Ashley Madrigal
SOCCER HIGHLIGHTS Mariela Quiñónez
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ACROSS BORDERS Carlos Icabalceta
WHAT I’VE LEARNED FROM BILINGUALISM Roger Peralta
SENIOR OF THE YEAR SPEECH Melissa Castellón
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Catching Up With
Mrs. Pille Greetings to Lincoln International Academy community from Saint Peter, Minnesota. After growing up in Virginia for twenty-two years I placed my future in the hands of the Peace Corps as they chose the country and town that I would serve for two years (2006-2008) along with the capacity that they desired for me to serve them. I was very thankful to have the opportunity to choose to extend my contributions by serving as your English teacher for nine years at Lincoln International Academy. Unfortunately, as of 2018, the option to remain in Nicaragua is temporarily not feasible for my family. For many months I have wondered how I found myself living in the small town of Saint Peter, Minnesota, a population of 11,906 people, 93.64% of whom were born in the United States, 69.72% born in the state of Minnesota. Yet, when my Aunt offered my family her home as a refuge, we accepted the invitation and respite. While living as an immigrant in Nicaragua for twelve years had felt like swimming in a fish bowl since I stood out as a foreigner, my family suddenly seemed very out of place as my spouse joined the 4.21% of residence that are not U.S. citizens and my foreign-born children attempted to assimilate to monolingual classrooms and new customs. Oftentimes as a native I am shocked by unfamiliar cultural
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norms, struggle with understanding the vocabulary and accent of English, and approach situations in ways that are unexpected for those around me. As my husband adjusts his status from a tourist to a resident, the only documentation I had returning to the United States was my passport and birth certificate. Soliciting a driver’s license, translating higher education degrees into certified licenses, performing on standardized exams, fingerprinting background checks, establishing bank accounts, and all of the logistics of relocating have consumed my sixteen hour days for the past nine months. Perhaps the sharpest contrast to the relaxed lifestyle of the tropics in Central America has been acclimating and surviving in the harsh winter climate of the Northern region of the United States. Beginning in October and enduring through April, seven months of winter presents cold temperatures that rarely rise above freezing, heavy snowfall, blizzard wind gusts, torrential flooding as six feet of snow begins to thaw and inundate the southern states below us through rivers and estuaries. I suddenly found myself watching the weather predictions with vigilance before leaving my house or returning home, however, I could not understand any of the symbols indicating the conditions or associate those weather
rs patterns with prior experiences to understand what dangers driving in a blizzard actually pose. January 29-31, 2019 a polar vortex of cold air was pushed from the North Pole into the region by low pressure, dropping temperatures to -33 degrees Celsius (-45 Celsius with wind chill). We had to remain in our creaking homes due to the extreme cold and risk of frostbite if exposed to the air temperature more than 30 seconds. As spring approaches in other parts of the United States, our snow begins the cycle of melting at noon and refreezing throughout the night. Some members of my Nicaraguan family have taken these weather conditions personally, my four-year-old daughter Skyler is the most vocal about her discomfort and asks to go home every day as she dreams of warmer weather and all the things she forgot to pack. While transitioning to a new environment has presented my family with challenges, we have also enjoyed many new opportunities. Since Saint Peter is a small community, I was able to have coffee with the Mayor and he appointed me to serve on the board of directors for the public library. In collaboration with the committee, I am revising the mission of the library to recognize the needs of a population growing in diversity and encouraging the investment
in authentic texts in a variety of languages beyond just English. My children and I enjoy working in schools with Somali refugees that have relocated due to a civil war that began in 1991 and has not yet resolved. We are learning about the values of the Muslim faith and participating in the celebrations and cuisine of a new culture. I teach English to 6-12th grades at a public school that serves a unique population of students with special education needs. I have enjoyed access to higher education and professional development opportunities from our local universities, Gustavus Adolphus College, Minnesota State University, and the University of Minnesota. My family appreciates living near my grandmother and celebrating her 96th birthday in 2018. If you were to ask my son, Logan, he would tell you that his favorite experience living in the United States is the derby race with old cars in the county fair during the summer. While moving from Nicaragua, or living in Minnesota, had not been the vision I had for my future, I am realizing that God has a plan for me and if I resist it I cannot fulfill it, therefore I am thankful for our many blessing and continue to perform his work as I serve my local community.
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V-BALL HIGHLIGHTS BY ASHLEY MADRIGAL
The Lincoln Volleyball team has been in constant motion throughout the last few years. This year, thanks to their hard work and perseverance, the team was able to win the largest amount of awards and recognition in the history of Lincoln. In 2018, the volleyball won first place in two different tournaments, the Cuadrangular hosted by Colegio Centro America (CCA) and the Inter-School Tournament of the National Institute of Sports. In the latter, they faced schools from all over Managua, including the Volleyball Academy of the Nicaraguan National Institute of Sports. In February of this year, the volleyball participated at the Cuadrangular of the American Nicaraguan School, where they ended up winning third place. However, their biggest achievement to date happened a month later at the AASCA Volleyball tournament, where they won 3rd place out of 19 schools from all across Central America. This achievement is proof of their gargantuan efforts throughout the last 4 years to improve as a team. The team was vastly praised at school for this great accomplishment. They also recently second at the LIA Freedom Cup.
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Team captain Luciana Argüello commented, “I have been a part of this team for more than 4 years and had the opportunity to participate in four AASCA tournaments, where I have gone from benchwarmer to key player to captain. The volleyball team has helped me grow as a person and as a leader, which is why I think my teammates chose me as their Most Valuable Player for two consecutive years. Even though it is just a title, it is very important to me because it showed that the work I have been doing for years paid off. I am very proud of this team, because thanks to our commitment and drive, we were able to earn the 3rd place in AASCA and awards in several other tournaments.” The 2018-2019 Varsity volleyball team is comprised of 13 members: Luciana Argüello, Ashley Madrigal, Lucía Offer, María González, Cristina Rivas, Noelia Aragón, Marjorie Medrano, Francesca Medrano, Alexia Rivas, Alejandra Sequeira, Dayanara Reyes, and Martina Cardenal. For the years to come, the team expects to keep the bar high and keep on winning tournaments, for it is only the beginning.
SOCCER HIGHLIGHTS BY MARIELA QUIÑÓNEZ
Throughout the years, sports at our school have been given more importance by the students and faculty. This newfound school spirit has encouraged students to get more involved in afterschool sports and has motivated people to watch and support the teams. In particular, this has led the U18 Varsity Soccer Team to achieve great awards and recognitions, such as the recent victory at Copa UAM and the LIA Freedom Cup. The team, led by Coach Luis Mena, is comprised of: Alvaro Pallais, Luis Gómez, Raul Franchini, Antonio Vega, George Salameh, Ernesto Lacayo, Luis Coronel, Frederick Bergman, Carlos Briceño, Samir Salameh, Andrés Lacayo, José Siero, Marcelo Buitrago, Manuel Villela, Roberto Sansón, Diego Ayón, Santiago Rojas, Andrés Santos, Andrés Ramirez, Samuel Cardenal, and Alejandro Santos. On May 3rd, our team played the final match for the LIA-Claro Freedom Cup against the American Nicaraguan School, and after an extremely difficult game, we won 5-3 in penalties. As a result of this victory, our team captain Alvaro Pallais was awarded the MVP award for the tournament. After winning the Freedom Cup, the soccer team was presented by a new challenge: Copa UAM.
It was a tough journey from the group stage to the semifinals, but the team never gave up. They worked very hard to bring the cup home. For the first time in history, our male varsity team not only reached the Copa UAM Final but won the game. The final match was held at UAM on June 3rd, where our team faced Instituto Nacional de Héroes y Mártires de la Reforma-INHMARE. After a tight match, we won 4-3 in penalties. Alvaro Pallais, team captain, gave a few words on the future of the team, and farewells the seniors, “I hope that in the upcoming years, each member of the team keeps giving their maximum effort. We have seen what we are capable of. With this same effort, each one of us will be able to achieve great things in life. To the seniors, I will miss you all so much. You have been by my side throughout the years, and have helped my passion for this sport grow even more, through the ups and downs we have experienced together.” We are all very proud of the accomplishments our soccer team has obtained over the year, and look forward to more in the next school year. With the right motivation and perseverance, everything can be achieved.
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During a time of political and economic instability in the Nicaragua of 1987, there was a five-year-old girl whose dad was at risk of being recruited into military service. As a desperate solution, the family of four (two parents and two daughters) decided to immigrate into the United States through its southern border with nothing but hope in a completely new world. With the help of coyotes, the young family crossed many borders and even a great river that had taken the lives of many people with similar intentions. Fearful, the family crossed the river on the coyote’s back and reached a convent where they were received with warmth and care from nuns and nurses that cared for immigrants like them. The most important thing throughout this trek is that the family managed to stick together and keep their dream of reaching the United States alive. Eventually, the family was able to successfully acquired status political asylum in the new country. Thanks to that, the parents were able to legally work in their country. Despite them being successful at acquiring the political asylum, the challenges for the family were ever-present. For example, one of the biggest hurdles was their inability to speak English. However, due to their hard working spirit, the parents were able to get jobs as housekeepers and maintenance staff for a church and the two girls were able to attend public school. School life was
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difficult for both girls in the beginning, but after learning English, the girls excelled in their studies and made their parents proud. They received honor roll after honor roll during their years in elementary school. As both girls aged, they became increasingly more responsible. As everything that goes up has to go down, the family had to go back to Nicaragua. The young girl was in 8th grade when the family’s work permit expired and the parents took the decision of going back to their homeland. There was a complete cultural and
social difference when they arrived in Nicaragua. The city looked a lot different, people acted completely different, and the environment, in general, was completely different. This was hard for the girls because they had not experienced something like it before, and school was even harder for them around this time. The change from English to Spanish brought difficulty in the youngest girl’s school life, but being someone who had goals and strived for them like her parents, she was still able to be an excellent student. This whole journey created a positive impact in the life of the young girl. For example, due to her expertise in English, her high maturity
level, and her sense of empathy for others, she was able to thrive as a person. All of this led the girl, Aracelly Flores, to be the empathetic, hard-working, and responsible woman she is today. This was the story of Mrs. Aracelly Flores and her family. Although time has passed since this occurred, it is still very relevant today not only for Nicaraguans who are seeking asylum abroad but for people from many other countries that have become refugees due to difficult political and economic situations within their countries. Mrs. Aracelly is an example of how one person can strive and adapt in a difficult situation like the one she had to live.
Article by Carlos Icabalceta 8
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Language is but a tool that our species alone has been able to develop. It has connected us through generations, unified nations by their similarities of speech, and has been used to connect us to our own past by the records of previous generations. These numerous connections that language has provided prevail to this day, but to a much more global level. Multiple countries connect with each other by globalized languages, English in particular. English, rooting from the Latin tongue, has expanded regions on top of regions, and words like “okay” have pervaded throughout distinct and foreign languages. Due to this same network of communication, languages like English and Spanish have served a great purpose in the efficiency of many businesses, and have served an enormous functionality in daily activities for a plethora of people in the age of the internet. This has been the case for me. I remember, vaguely, the first couple of English lessons taught to me in my first year at Lincoln. I was five years of age, a chubby first-grader who could not concentrate properly in his studies, especially if it had involved English. I remember repeating the word “ball” an unbearable amount of times, the alphabet, each number in its respective language, and the distinct distracting sound of flies gliding across my ears. I remember the teacher correcting me, the vocabulary and spelling exams, and how scared I was of the fans falling from the ceiling and on to my head on the hottest of days. Needless to say, it was a struggle, so much so, that school seemed to me much more like a punishment than a privilege. I developed a despise toward reading, writing, and speaking in English. Yet, as time passed,
and I was introduced to the internet and smartphones, web pages like YouTube started popping up on our desktop computers, things started to change. Suddenly, the increasingly mature and complex books introduced to me in high school were more enriching. Learning new words became rewarding, and the entertainment that I could consume and enjoy became almost limitless. My favorite shows, movies, books, stories, and music became mostly composed of English prose and verse, and I, to this day, remain delighted about that fact. Yet, I did not know the importance of this language until Junior year. In the summer of 2018, as I transitioned to senior year, I traveled to the United States for an early college summer program. Through the chaos that was transpiring in Nicaragua, the harsh rains, and increasing heat, it would seem to be that my stay in the northern country would be unbearable. Yet, it so happened that the use of these languages did not only help with my summer course but also to form long-lived friendships from around the world, from the United States to Taiwan. Until this day, the duality of the use of Spanish and English has introduced me to a variety of backgrounds, cultures, knowledge, and expressions. I know that in the foreseeable future, this bilingual education will evolve and become one of my mightiest tools while I navigate to my future endeavors, my career, and life, and I am thankful for it.
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Melissa Castellón’s Senior of the Year Address
Dear Seniors, Estamos aquí hoy para dar gracias a Dios por ayudarnos a terminar una etapa importante en nuestras vidas y por todas las bendiciones y personas que pone en nuestro camino. Estamos a una semana de graduarnos y de separarnos. Para muchos, este ha sido nuestro colegio por 12 años, y para otros por muy nuevos que sean, igual forman parte de nuestra familia. College significa un comienzo nuevo y por más difícil que sea no se den por vencidos. Estoy segura que van a llegar a ser personas exitosas en la vida. La Senior Class of 2019 nos ha dejado muchos recuerdos y ha sido una clase que ha tenido muchos logros. A medida que íbamos terminando senior year también se iban terminando cosas que jamás pensé que iba a extrañar. Les cuento que voy a extrañar llegar a la cafetería y siempre escuchar las risas de aquella mesa roja de la esquina, al igual que mi clase de communications donde en serio desarrollamos habilidades para hablar (nunca faltaron los chismes), los dramas de la Marsela (espero que Stanford los aprecie mucho). Sobretodo, algo que jamás consideré importante, es a todos diciendome que no gritara, créanme, van a extrañar mis gritos. Hoy estoy aquí triste porque nuestros días en el Academy terminaron. Ustedes son personas increíbles que me consideraron capaz de guiarlas y de pelear en nombre de todos. Hoy estoy aquí como su Senior of the year y creanme que esto es muy importante para mi. Han sido un grado que me ha dejado tantas cosas por recordar como: Oscar y José Andrés negando que se quieren, las pocas conversaciones con Fernando que valieron por miles, los skype calls con Carlos y Sirker, mis tutorías y terapias con la psicóloga Isabella Cardenal, mi infancia comiendo pizza en la casa de la Maria Ruth, todos los breakdowns que tuve con la Sarah, los jokes con la Cristina, los rides en el busito de la Daniela, las crepas hechas por la Valeria, las muchas risas con la Regi, los modelajes con la Luciana, volleyball con la Lucía, los passive aggressive comments que tanto amo de la Karla, la Luvi, y la Desireé, Mi foto histórica con Joel, Andrés cantando American Pie, la Marsela peleando con … pues todo el mundo, los chismes con Tato y la Leslia, mis días viendo videos de Pelonchis, todas las veces que Manuel me dijo que el hombre que se casara conmigo iba a ser el más afortunado, ver las estrellitas con la Nana, los chistes de Siles y Marcelo, el rey de la comedia
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mi buen amigo Roberto Sansón, la Miss Clelia diciéndole a Néstor que se quitara los audífonos, William dormido en todas las clases, Roger capturando momento especiales, la Vargas siendo cute, la Katherine siempre contando historias, Alan siempre haciéndome sentir chiquita, las oportunidades que tuvimos de ver a Rigo en el colegio y todos mis momentos especiales con Alejandro que hicieron mi Senior year inolvidable. Tantas cosas pequeñas son las que marcan nuestra vida sin darnos cuenta. Todos ustedes son personas especiales que Dios puso en mi camino y que me dio el regalo de conocer. No nos podemos olvidar de todos los momentos que vivimos como grado, como las muchas votaciones que tuvimos para poder estar aquí hoy (siguen diciendo que ganó Star Wars), las reuniones históricas de los hombres con la ms Silvia, cuando todos lloramos en el retiro, nuestro takeover y cuando peleamos como grado para quitar los semesters, lo cual demuestra que no nos damos por vencidos. Le quiero dar Gracias a Dios por darme la oportunidad de ser parte de una familia tan increíble, los Seniors de 2019. Agradezco a mis papas por nunca darse por vencidos y por enseñarme a siempre luchar por lo importante en la vida, a mi hermana por demostrarme que siempre se puede salir adelante, a mis hermanos por ayudarme a tener paciencia (créanme que sigo intentando), a Alejandro por darme un año increíble y por asegurarse de que nunca me faltara un abrazo, a mis profesores, por enseñarme tantas cosas en la vida y por siempre estar ahí y escucharme, a Miss Thelma y Miss Silvia, nos vemos en 4 años. Gracias a todos por ayudarme y acompañarme en este last voyage. Les deseo lo mejor. Espero verlos pronto y que el Senior Class of 2019 nunca sea olvidada. Todos sembramos una semilla en el mundo, ahora es tiempo de salir adelante y crecer, love you.
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Purpose: Members of Lincoln The Hawk’s Eye work to constantly inform and update students on the latest school events and activities in an unbiased and bipartisan manner. In furtherance of these goals, members seek to promote the right to be informed and to share individual opinions in a collective environment like the one that is Lincoln and the surrounding community, to educate on values of respect, synergy, tolerance, school policy and to work with others who share common goals. If you want to submit an article, please email us: alejandro.castillo@lincoln.edu.ni - President ana.velarde@lincoln.edu.ni - Vice President henry.cabrera@lincoln.edu.ni - Secretary yosibel.cabrera@lincoln.edu.ni - Public Relations carlos.icabalceta@lincoln.edu.ni - Vocal alejandra.sequeira@lincoln.edu.ni - Junior Board kassandra.chung@lincoln.edu.ni - Junior Board *Please also email us if you need the source of any image on this publication. Don’t forget to follow us on instagram, @thehawkseye_lia !