Independence Day in Nicaragua

One advantage of living in Nicaragua is that Central America's Independence Day falls during the school year, which makes it a fun holiday to celebrate with our students.  At NCA, all of our students from preschool through high school are involved in learning activities that involve reenactments, mural displays, recitation of patriotic poems, and traditional food, music and dance from the diverse regions of Nicaragua.  This is easily our school's biggest student program, with over 400 school parents in attendance.

It's also the only day at school where it shouldn't surprise you to see high school students walking around with machetes and a wide variety of toy guns (including some BB guns... no ammo allowed, of course).  Obviously the students love reenacting battles and also using machetes to cut down palm branches for their presentations.

We were especially proud of both Caleb (2nd grade) and Judah (Kindergarten) in their class presentations.  In addition to Caleb's class dance and Judah's class poem, Caleb was chosen as the winner of the poem recitation for 2nd grade and had the honor of reciting a poem called "Bandera Mia" (My Flag, in Spanish) in front of the whole audience!  And as is our tradition, the program ended with the grand finale -- NCA's teachers (including Liam) performing a fairly well-rehearsed traditional dance in front of all of our students and parents.