Managua, Nicaragua Lincoln International Academy September 7th, 2018 Dear Readers of The Hawk’s Eye, First of all, we are very grateful that you have decided to read our publication. After two years of having “The Hawk’s Eye” as an elective course, we took the decision of rebranding it as a club. With this in mind, we made some other significant changes to the way “The Hawk’s Eye” is managed. For instance, in order to be more eco-friendly, we have stopped printing our issues and as a result we are now fully online. We have also decided to open a social media account, our instagram, which has become a success thanks to your support. If everything goes well, we plan on continuously operating the account so that the student body is always updated on what’s going on. In regards to this edition, we are really hoping that you enjoy it. We have worked extremely hard to make it as good as it can be. We have some great featured writers, and a large diversity of content, so there’s certainly something for everyone. We hope you like it. Go Hawks!
All the best, Alejandro Castillo, President and Editor-in-Chief Ana Velarde, Vice President and PR Manager Yosibel Cabrera, Secretary and Head Photographer Carlos Icabalceta, Secretary and Media Supervisor Ana Valverde, Teacher Advisor
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IN THIS EDITION 5
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OUR NEW PRINCIPAL Alejandro Castillo
MEET SIMON WALTERS The Board
REDEFINING ETHICS Marsela Porras
9 NEW YEAR, NEW PRESIDENT
SCHOOL NEWS
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The Board
YOU’RE GETTING VERY SLEEPY! Luis Baez
IT’S TIME TO SAY GOODBYE Anonymous
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STUDENT LIFE
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TEACHERS
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HUNTING FOR MICROBES Mariana Escobar
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By: Alejandro Castillo
OUR NEW PRINCIPAL: THELMA VOGEL
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fter a year of having Mrs. Carola MuĂąoz as the high school principal, Thelma Vogel, Lincoln alumni and the former head of the counseling department, has been chosen to fill in her shoes. Mrs. Thelma Vogel has an impressive amount of experience in education methods. Particularly, she is very prepared in the area of early childhood intervention, which she became active in after her first son was diagnosed with autism. Additionally, she has had the opportunity to work with children with special needs, autism, sensory processing disorder, ADD and ADHD. She has also been licensed as a worldwide Advanced Certified Autism Specialist and is certified
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in the ABA method, TEACCH method, among others. While much of her preparation is aimed towards children, Thelma affirms that she has smoothly transitioned to working with older students during the past month. She enjoys speaking directly with older students, rather than having to do it with parents like with younger children. At first, she admits to being scared of the challenges that being a high school principal would bring, but now, she has effectively found ways to apply her vast knowledge of autism to older students. One of the main ones is differential learning, were multiple learning methods are explored
and applied inside the classroom. “I think having a child with autism taught me a lot about how all of us learn. At least in our culture, we have been taught that certain things need to happen in a certain way, and if they don’t, then something must be wrong. However, my vision for learning, especially for older students, is that they find their strength in how they learn. For example, if a student is better at listening rather than reading, I would encourage teachers to read out loud to them so that it’s easier for them to grasp the content. Here at Lincoln, we have a very solid curriculum, however, I would like to slowly work with every teacher to have more creative ways of assessment, so that everyone can be included in the learning process.” Mrs. Thelma also commented on the critical situation happening in Nicaragua. She believes that it’s important to recognize and understand what’s going on, but at the same time, it’s key to create a positive atmosphere within school. “We cannot avoid the realities that we live in the country. My main goal is to give the students a little bit of sunshine in the midst of what’s going on outside. We can pray, and we can do what we can to keep a good spirit and make the school good enough to forget what’s outside for a while. More than academics, I want to value spirit, making sure that everyone is happy,” she assures. Despite the challenges that might come along the way, Mrs. Thelma is excited about this new school year as principal. She wants to let students know that if they ever want to speak with her, her door will always be open.
Mrs. Thelma ranks burgers as her favorite food
Her two favorite sports are tennis and horseback riding
She likes watching movies and documentaries on netflix
The two humanitarian causes that she cares most about are autism support and pro-life
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By: Margarita Buitrago
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Q. Where were you born and raised? Why did you come to Nicaragua? A: I was born and raised in London, England. I came to Nicaragua in 2009 because a lot of my work has been to do with kids and teenagers in very difficult situations. Mainly kids and teenagers involved in gangs, violence, human trafficking, and drug abuse. So when I came to Central America, I did a Masters in Costa Rica, and I traveled around the region. I could see that the situation for kids in Central America was really bad in so many places, so I decided I wanted to come here to work. But Nicaragua always felt like a country that was a lot safer than some of the other countries in Central America. It seemed like a nice country, but with loads of work to do so I came here as a volunteer for six months at a place called Casa Alianza and I’ve stayed here since.
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Q: What did you study? Who/What inspired you to pursue a career in teaching? A: My undergraduate degree was history and then I studied International Law and Human Rights. Why teaching? Well I was lucky to have really good teachers when I went to school so that made a huge difference. I went to boarding school, so I was very close with my teachers. I lived with them after all. It allowed me to see them as advisors and friends. Then when I finished high school I did a gap year and I went to Vietnam to teach English. I was eighteen years old and it was just the most amazing experience of my life. So my connection with when I started school and just how much I enjoyed teaching in my first ever experience of it made me think about how this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.
Q: List 3 adjectives that describe yourself A: It would probably be more interesting to know what five adjectives my students would use to describe me than how I describe myself! But I would use energetic, responsible, and dedicated. Q: As an English teacher, what is your favorite novel and why? What are you currently reading? A: I’m currently reading a novel with my 12th grade students called Grendel, and it's a really interesting novel that every page I read, I have to put the book down, think about it and just work out what’s going on, think about how that makes me feel, and how I assess that. It’s just been a really interesting experience, since I never really knew about that book before I came here and saw it on my syllabus and started reading it. I think that right now it might be one my favorite novels, just because I found it so provoking to read. Q; What is a fun fact about you? A: I have Scottish family. On special occasions I dress up in my kilt and attempt to play the bagpipes, very, very badly, it’s a horrific sound! One of my favorite things to do with that is something called a Ceilidh dance, which would be amazing if we could organize one of those at school one day. It is a Scottish traditional folk dance. I personally do not have a set of bagpipes, but when I do visit my family in Scotland they do. However, I do have my own kilt for the family tartan and a sporran, which is the bag you wear on the front of the kilt.
and Ted talks about things I have no idea about. I like to try and pick Ted talks about topics I would never normally pick. I might like one about how to be a good leader. I try to learn or have some idea about new stuff, stuff that I don’t know about. For example, this morning I downloaded one about birds, just because I don’t know anything about birds. And I don’t like it when I go to Matagalpa to do hiking and people tell me about birds and I just don’t know that information, so I’m trying to do that to learn some more. Also, I live for soccer. I’m bad at playing it, but I just adore everything about soccer. Q: How has your experience at Lincoln been so far?How do you help students to reach and experience success? A: My experience at Lincoln has been really positive, it is a really nice school. I’m definitely really enjoying my first four weeks and two days so far! I think to me success for a student is that they use what they learn in a way that they need for 21st century living. To me, that focuses on critical thinking, creativity, that their learning in some way inspires values of learning and teamwork. I want them to have skills they really need in order to be productive people in the 21st century. For me, success is what a student is learning in a class and apply that learning through creativity, critical thinking, and citizenship. That's an idea of what I'm working towards
Q: What are your hobbies? A: Hiking. So when I can, I try to get to El Crucero, Matagalpa to do some hiking. My hobby at the moment is listening to podcasts
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REDEFINING ETHICS How the Ethics Committee is Improving Student Council Elections By: Marsela Porras Honor, honesty, openness, and ky, and Manuel Gomez (both Election visibility. These values and more are Planners). We are a group of students what the Ethics & Transparency completely dedicated to making your Committee of Lincoln International school experience better, as well as easing Academy stands for. It is not very often the transition of power during the that we get the chance to make a beginning of the year. decision that will impact an entire Part of our vision is, as previously community, not a decision like mentioned, to raise awareness for the elections, anyway. In the adult world, importance of democracy and we see it occur at most every four years. transparency. You may think that these In our lives as students, we have the elections aren’t as important - they’re just chance to practice the right to vote on a another student thing, right? Well, you yearly basis. This year, the E&TC invites couldn’t be more wrong. Every time you you to take full advantage of pass up your right to vote for something, this. Democracy you are matters, because invalidating “It is very important to us opinions matter, and years of having freedoms that the student body activism and comes from electing progress that the right understands that we want our ancestors representatives. There to be accessible to them.” have made for are many unfortunate us to be cases where standing at a Marsela Porras ballot one day, democracy isn’t full, isn’t transparent, and casting our vote. Every time you vote, though, you that is something we desire to avoid. are practicing for the future. By listening This year, the E&TC is made up of to parties’ proposals, and taking them to three seniors and two juniors, who are heart, analysing them, deciding which is led by Mr. Alejandro Badilla. The best for the community, you are already group is composed of Marsela Porras making the future a better place. A (Campaign and Propaganda Director), brighter life will come to you if you are Mariana Escobar (Communications under positive leadership, after all. That Director), Roberto Sanson (Procedures is why the E&TC this year has decided to and Budget Director), Sophia Raskos-
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make part of our program to promote democracy, and create the “Every Vote Matters� campaign to go along with the elections. We hope that you, as the students, can help us fulfill this desire for an amazing school year. It is very important to us that the student body understands that we want to be accessible to them. We are open to comments, suggestions, or any concerns you may have about the student government, the campaigns, elections, etc. You can get involved - your voice matters! For the purposes of getting into contact with us, you can easily send an email or talk to us any of us personally.
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NEW YEAR, NEW PRESIDENT
This past September 3rd, both of the campaigns running for student government paraded at the general assembly to showcase their team and give their respective speeches. This year, the campaigns running are Rise ‘N Unite, led by Sara Perez, 11th grade, and Wonder, led by Sofia Sanson, 10th grade. This year, the campaigns definitely look very promising. Under the leadership of Marsela Porras and Mr. Alejandro Badilla in the ethics committee, and the accreditation from the National Association of Student Councils, there’s enough pressure for both parties to serve the student body at the best of their abilities. Make sure to stay updated with our Instagram, @thehawkseye_lia, for more updates on the student council elections. May the best campaign win!
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YOU’RE GETTING VERY SLEEPY!
By: Luis Baez
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bout a month ago, with great expectations and excitement I joined
the LIA staff to teach in the social studies department. Since I got here I have been surprised at the warm welcome both faculty and students have given me, making this new adventure much easier and pleasant. I have been blessed with an amazing group of students in each of my classes, they are smart, dedicated and for the most part enthusiastic about learning. They work hard, and put in the effort necessary to fulfill their goal of getting into the university of their choice and hopefully getting some sort of scholarship to soften the blow on their parents’ pockets. As you can see I am full of praises for my students, but (and there is almost always a BUT) where I cannot praise them is in their lack of sleep! “sleep” you say? YES. SLEEP. Whether you are an overachiever taking every AP class available, a Netflix binge watcher, a gamer or an avid reader that can’t put a book a down, if you are not sleeping enough every night, you are harming yourself! Since I have made it a sort of project of mine to the proliferation of sleep deprived students, I share with you a few facts about the importance of rest!
1. Man is the only mammal that willingly delays sleep. 2. Regular exercise helps you fall asleep faster, but exercising right before bed will delay it. 3. Sleep is just as important as diet and exercise 4. Sleep deprivation is a leading cause for accidents (falling asleep while driving). 5. Not sleeping enough can bring negative consequences with regards to your memory, mood, and overall health! Adversely, not sleeping enough can cause you to get sick more often, do worse in school and even cause of worsen acne. In short, sleep is good for you! So this weekend and in weeks to follow try to get 7-8 hours of sleep per night. Organize your time properly so you don’t have to burn the midnight oil studying; create a night routine so your body knows it’s time to sleep; start winding down about an hour before your target sleep time; and finally, put those phones away and pick up a book, a perfect way to disconnect, relax and help Morpheus out. I might not be your teacher, but here is homework for all: Rest and recuperate, you’ll thank me in the morning.
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It’s Time to Say Goodbye The day I lost my grandfather was the saddest day of my life. Two years later, I still miss him the same. If I’ve learned anything from this experience, it’s that you can never be too sure when it’s time for you to go. I’m Catholic, which means I believe God has an exact plan for you, but there is no way of knowing what exactly that is until it happens. Nothing guarantees that the friend you last texted will be here tomorrow, or even in thirty minutes for that matter. Nothing guarantees you will leave your house to go for groceries and ever return. Though I’ve tried to open up to the idea that God only puts in my path what I can handle, I was not, and never will be ready for this. He’s gone now. My best friend, my partner-he’s gone. And there’s nothing left but just a sliver of hope we will meet again in the afterlife. I was fourteen years old the day my best friend died. I was fourteen years old when I last saw him and told him I’d be back the next day. I didn’t. It was too late.
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All my life I had him there, and now, he had left us. My grandfather, the one who seemed twenty years younger than he was and radiated joy wherever he went, was dead. The word “death” seems harsher than it used to, now that I have no option but to embrace it. He died. I first heard those words at seven a.m on June 9th, 2016. “Kiko passed away.” My father said on the phone, over tears and a cracked voice. I didn’t feel pain, and I didn’t feel anger, or happiness, or relief or whatever I was supposed to feel at a time like that. I felt nothing. And that nothingness translated onto screams and cries coming from my insides. It couldn’t be happening; I was in complete denial. I was floating through a parallel universe that looked and felt like the one I had lived in for the past fourteen years, but couldn’t, for any reason, be a reality. I kept trying to convince myself that he would show up at my doorstep with his favorite milkshake
in his hand and a smile on his face, telling me it had all been a sick joke. I received calls. One after the other, my phone would not stop ringing. I listened to the quivering voices on the phone, all approaching me with care. I was calmer than they were, and this made me angry. I understood all these people called me because they knew how close we were and figured I was affected, but at that moment, all I felt was nothing. The next morning, before heading to his memorial service, we went to his house. It had been at the least twenty-four hours since his passing, and I was still floating in my own bubble, numb to him being gone. As I entered his house, however, the bubble was burst instantly. I saw myself become a Jenga tower; crumbling one block at a time. Step after step, it was only more clear I had seen the last of him. Still, a part of me was in denial. I broke down sobbing as I saw him the only way I would ever see him again, in pictures. I did my best
to compose myself as I knew he wouldn’t want me to cry for him, but it was impossible. I could not think of anyone or anything other than him; lying on the cold, metal table like a waxwork. I still remember how I felt when I saw him like that, the empty feeling I felt in the morning still with me. As I saw him li on the table, his pale skin peeking through his most elegant black suit, I couldn’t help but notice the plastic container that held his head. I don’t know what I expected; it was a morgue, not a hotel, but the entire situation felt so different to anything I had ever experienced before that I picked at the tiniest details to distract me from the fact that my person had died. As we entered the mass, and I saw so many people mourning the death of him, all affected in different ways by his passing, I felt at ease. It was the first time since all of this had begun that I didn’t feel lost in a reality I wished to be no part in. Alongside my friends and family, I found comfort and
a sense that I was not alone. That they understood. I was outside the church when somebody came to tell me this was my last chance to say goodbye. Looking at him through the glass for the last time, it hit me. I was never to see him again. At that moment, I felt myself crumble again. This time, all the numbness disappeared, leaving me at my most vulnerable. All my walls had come crashing down and it was time for me to come to terms with reality. I heard his laugh; I replayed all the times he teased me until I would get annoyed. I thought of his inappropriate jokes, dark humor, and that pearlescent blue car I would grow to miss. All the things I hated that he did, I realized I had already started to miss. My grandfather was no longer with us, and I had to face it. As I looked at his face one last time, I cried hysterically. I felt helpless and broken. Everything in me held on to the idea that this was a nightmare disguised as reality, but it wasn’t, and it was heartbreaking.
A week later, as I was helping my grandmother clean out their closet, I broke again. I remembered the sticker books we used to fill out, his loud music on the speakers, the quirky dance he would do whenever he made us chocolate milk, and all the little things I used to hate. I remembered the daily text messages I would receive from him, filled with reminders to pray and take my pills. My grandmother handed me an orange box filled with drawings and letters of mine, and I took them home. The fact that after all those years, he kept the most pointless drawings I made safe in a box he wouldn’t let anybody touch, proved what I already knew: The connection we shared was something else. My grandfather was more than just a relative, I cannot remember a time when I felt sad or lonely when I was with him. Not one day goes by I don’t think about him. He’s in all the little things, and I’m not sure if I’m happy with that, but I will be eventually.
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dirty coin!
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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 click this link:: https://goo.gl/forms/aYmqF9S84ooxs8b62 If you want to apply to become a part of our staff, please click this link: https://goo.gl/forms/Hkgm9lTESXHUU2Jq1 If you have any feedback or comments, we would love to hear them, please email us: alejandro.castillo@lincoln.edu.ni - President & Editor in Chief ana.velarde@lincoln.edu.ni - Vice President & PR Manager yosibel.cabrera@lincoln.edu.ni - Secretary & Head Photographer carlos.icabalceta@lincoln.edu.ni - Secretary & Media director *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 !