Mother's Day Wishes from the Girls and a Note from the Teachers

A Mother's Day Greeting from Nicaragua

May 12, 2013

Dear TTS21 Parents,

The scene at our Little Corn Island house has been an odd mixture of writing research papers, heading to the SCUBA dive center, and sleeping just about anywhere to recover from a whopper of a virus.  Our final week of TTS21 has clearly held its highs and lows.  Last Saturday, the girls were literally breathless as our panga, a local ferry boat, jumped and splashed its way across the turquoise waters taking us to our tiny island getaway. Today, the girls proudly discuss SCUBA terminology and the colorful life of the coral reef.

While they have all been extremely busy attending dive classes or snorkeling, the TTS veterans never let their studies fall behind.  The girls are now professionals at time management, and are succeeding in meeting assignment deadlines while still making time to catch an extra dip in the Caribbean to cool off or hold a sunset photo session. The camaraderie shared amongst this group of young women is awe-inspiring.  Their love is touching to witness, in each of the small gestures seen along the way each day.  It's in Eliza's arms as she stocks the fridge with Powerade drinks to keep electrolytes up, or in the sincere cheers for Mimi as she tears up over seeing bioluminescence for the first time.   Each of the girls is fully accepting of one another's unique differences, so that together they are an incredibly strong family.  It is this closeness that is undoubtedly causing mixed emotions to surface as our conversations are beginning to focus on the transition away from the TTS family to life back home. 

As final deadlines end, we are talking more and more about what it means to actually be returning home.  Three and a half months ago, living abroad with a group of strangers caused both excitement and anxiety.  Now, those same emotions are present in your daughters as they discuss how their family and friends will perceive their newly developed global awareness.  Your daughters feel very closely connected to Central America, and are nervous as they struggle with how to create the clearest picture about how Central America fits into each of their hearts.  They are unsure of what it will be like to return to a stationary classroom in a familiar building and walk with peers through school hallways. Still, they are each counting down the seconds to their first hug from you and their first night's rest in their own beds!  They discuss what the reunion moment will be like, and each beams with bright smiles over whom they will see first and whether they will cry or not.  Many have painted a vivid picture of their first days at home and the first meal they hope to have.

Over the next few days, we will practice handling the inevitable question, "So, how was your trip?"  We will address the fears related to returning to school and peer groups, and discuss how to again find their place in teenage life.  Of course, we will spend plenty of time laughing, crying, and then laughing again as we revisit our favorite moments from the semester.  I am sure your daughter has already hinted to you about how she feels regarding her upcoming TTS graduation on Sunday night.  I encourage you to email your daughter congratulating her hard work in these final days of the semester and for her accomplishments these 15 weeks overseas.  I also encourage you to ask your daughter about her preference or vision for her first few days at home.  She may want a large party with family and friends, or perhaps you may be surprised to find out she wants some quiet time at home with just family.  Either way, she will need some time to process her experience, to look at pictures, or sort through souvenirs and laundry.  She may want to do that immediately on her first night home, or perhaps hide it away for a several days.

This has been an incredible journey, and I cannot picture this experience without your daughter.  She has amazing strength and charisma, and I admire her sense of self and love for the people around her.  I will miss each of your daughters and am thankful for all the adventures we have shared.  I will look back at this trip and admire each young woman that transformed TTS21 into a family of singing, laughing, and questioning borderless girls.  Kathryn's leadership and language prowess, Mimi's fondness for the world around her, Mikaela's combination of eagerness and smiling hesitation as she talks to someone new, Ruth's love for science and observation of minute details, Ava's passion for band and music, Abby's spunk and love for Dolly, Simone's endurance and optimism, Maggie's determination and vivid writing, Eliza's jump reflex after tripping and friendly hugs, Anna's smile and appreciation for experiencing life, and Annalise's laughter and quick humor all made this expedition more than just an academic semester program. With the love and guidance of four dedicated teachers, this family of passionate learners enthusiastically approaches any challenge or activity they come across as one cohesive unit. 

Thank you for sharing your daughter with The Traveling School.  I can't wait to see the next steps she takes, each one being one more step in her extraordinary path in life.

Hugs and love from Nicaragua to all of you amazing parents,
-Jen, Caroline, Heather & Liz 

Surfing in Guatemala

Project Wave Of Optimism

We just finished an amazing week in one of the most beautiful coastal towns I have ever visited. Playa Gigante (Giant's Beach) is a small community of about 3500 people made up of fishermen, farmers, panga captains, families, and surfers from around the globe. During a surf vacation, Peace Corps volunteers fell in love with Playa Gigante and began an organization based on positive community development, which today is known as Project WOO (Wave Of Optimism). We had the opportunity to spend a week working with this amazing project and immersing ourselves in the community and its culture, while enjoying the wonderful hospitality of our groupstay parents, Dona Lucia and Don Ramon.  Ramon is Bob Dylan-esque guitar-harmonica playing fisherman and Lucia is an amazing cook who runs a pulpería (grocery shop) out of her house.  We set up camp on their lawn and quickly felt right at home with home-cooked meals, dancing, and the sounds of ranchero and howler monkeys echoing through the night.

We woke up the next morning ready for Community Surf Day.  We spent the morning at the beach, with over 100 local kids, learning about the importance of being an "eco-surfista", painting faces, swimming in the ocean, kicking the soccer ball around, and helping in a beach clean-up. The kids kept the girls busy all morning.  Everywhere I looked there were kids playing with TTS students - Ava, Mikaela, and Simone had kids attached to their backs all morning; Emelia played "tiburones" (sharks) with the girls waiting to boogie board with Liz; Maggie & Anna started a pick-up game of soccer on the beach, and Annalise & Eliza were painting the faces of beautiful smiling kids.  It was a special day for everyone involved and a great way to kick off our week at Playa Gigante!

Throughout the week, we also partook in immersion classes, which consisted of baking bread with Dona Maria Elena, cooking traditional meals with Dona Reina, and hiking up Giant's Foot with our groupstay dad, Don Ramon.  The girls loved learning how to make the sweet bread - hand-kneading the dough, filling it with sugar and cheese, and putting it the handmade wood-fired oven to cook...que rico (yummy)!  Unfortunately, Jen & Abby ate so much bread, that they didn't leave room for lunch at Dona Reina's.  Nonetheless, we all got a chance to work it off with our hike up to the Giant's Foot, where 360° views awaited us at the top.

We also had the opportunity to help paint the local elementary school with local teachers & students.  Although there were many hands involved, Ruth was up on the ladder putting on the final coat, ensuring that it looked great!  The girls also got to play in a local softball game and visit the high school, where they shadowed the students and Kat did the translating.

Our last night, we headed to the beach for a sunset swim and saw something we hadn't seen since Casa del Mundo...storm clouds!  As we got back to the house, we heard the thunder getting closer and the first rains of the winter started coming down...and oh, how it poured!  The girls weren't fazed a bit...they started running in the rain, singing "Cielito Lindo" with Don Ramon, and roasting marshmellows over a lighter to squish between chicky's!  They're ability to live in the moment came through that night as their tents got flooded in a pool we had been wishing for all week...ay, ay, ay, ay...canta, no llores (sing, don't cry)!

--Liz

Weekly Reflection, Raction, and Response (RR&R) on Affecting Change

"Ahh! Ahhhh! Ahhh!" a desperate, panicked voice screamed forty feet below near the ocean-cured rocks.  Yet as Lisa talked about our week at Project WOO, and we shared snapshots of our experiences on community surf day, the stranger's screams were subdued to a mere drone in the periphery of my consciousness. When Lisa registered there might be someone calling for help, I did not understand how grave the girl's situation was until I looked down onto the rocks embedded in the ocean below and saw her precariously close to the rocks and the crashing, potent waves. Then Lisa, Derek (WOO workers) and TTS teachers rushed to help her and I merely watched, aware that I don't know how to help her and feeling fear, not bravery to help. This moment was intense and scary. Watching the approaching waves, fear rose in me. Fear for the girl getting twisted and hitting the unforgiving rocks. It also conjured up fear by reminding me of my moment of ocean stress when I lost my surf board in the far out waves at El Paredon. I felt an overwhelming feeling of sad helplessness too.  When I was struggling, I assumed anyone would help me as Heather and Henry did. Since anyone could fall into my position, others would empathize and as a good Samaritan, help me. Although I now empathized deeply, I did not feel readily able to help. I also felt a separation from Karen, being safe on land.

As I heard the desperate cries but did not recognize them as urgent; it is commonplace for people to know of the plight of others but not fully acknowledge it and care.  It is also common for people to be fully aware of the plight empathize but still feel a degree of separation and this not fully empathize and take action.

My metaphorical realization helped shed light on why so many US world citizens can take no action to preserve the natural state of our planet or help with the plight here in Central America.  Especially when our degraded earth and the Central American struggles are, in part, our fault.  I have been hyper-aware of environmental issues; I think partially because the state of our globe affects me.  But prior to TTS, I have not known or cared fully about the hardships here.  Traveling through Guatemala, Chiapas and Nicaragua and learning and interacting with the people, however, have bestowed me with a deep empathizing connection.

Now, I want to help and make a change, but just as I felt overlooking the ocean, I am not sure how.  It is not that it is too scary and potentially lethal, I just need to think more about it.  As we have learned, it is difficult to affect real change at the root of a problem and not merely the symptoms.  Yet I think this experience also makes me more understanding of why people at home will not feel as impassioned as I do;  they have maybe heard the drone of calls for help but never witnessed the issue firsthand.     

--Anna, Senior, NY

Hello from the Corn Islands,

As I write this update, all of the TTS21 girls are off on their first SCUBA dive.  The waters surrounding the island mix between bright turquoise and deep shades of midnight blue.  The water is clear, allowing the girls to see the bottom of the ocean from more than 30 feet above.  The sun is shining, and the breeze is providing some sweet relief from the heat.  Needless to say, it is not a hard place to enjoy our final week of the semester.

We arrived here by plane and ferry on Saturday.  We have our own house, complete with our very own pila for washing clothes and a large kitchen.  The girls were all smiles at the sight of fans in each of their rooms.  (Feel free to remind them of that when they complain for a lack of air conditioning this summer).

Yesterday was filled with classroom instruction as students were introduced to the world of diving.  It's unbelievable to see how quickly they have become adept at the technical aspects of their scuba equipment – you should see how fast they can connect all of their dive gear already!  Only one day of instruction and they already use terms like, “BCU, psi, and regulators,” as if they were already old scuba pros.  This morning each diver took their first breath underwater in a few feet of water off the beach.  Mikaela described the moment as, "totally crazy to take a big breath and just hear yourself breathing.  After it actually worked -  I just thought it was the coolest thing ever!"

If you’ve ever gone scuba diving, you know that divers talk a lot about healthy ears – which are essential in pressurizing as the girls descend and ascend from underwater. Mimi was thrilled her ears were great and didn't cause any problem at all.  And, while the beginning Open Water divers were taking their first breath of compressed air, some of the other girls went snorkeling.

It is typical for about a quarter of the girls to drop the Open Water course before they become certified scuba divers. This can be from fear of being underwater, issues with their ears, or anything that makes the girls choose to pass on scuba diving as their sport. This semester is no exception, and a few girls have chosen not to complete the course.  These girls are well-cared for – with world-class snorkeling from the beach, and plenty of good books to read in the sand. We will let you know if your daughter chooses to drop the course.

Two of the girls are working on their Advanced Scuba certifications, Abby and Annalise, and they were lucky enough to dive with a noisy pod of dolphins yesterday. But, in general, all of girls are loving the warm water, and a much needed break from classes.

Diving will end at the end of this week, providing a few days to complete final projects and transition activities to prepare for the return home.  There are mixed emotions swirling around the conversation of going home, both excitement to hug loved ones and to sleep in their own beds, as well as sadness for leaving such a powerful semester abroad.  The TTS21 family is a close community, and we will be focusing the final week's discussions on what it means to go home and how to share their transformative experiences with friends and family.  But today, it's time to focus on swimming with rays and watching as huge crabs enjoying a lunch on the sandy ocean floor.

Thank you for all of your love and support throughout the entire semester.  It has been a pleasure traveling in all of your company, both in person on the Campus Visit and on the blog.

I will be sending another update soon regarding the specifics of our transition discussions here, and descriptions on how TTS is providing support for your daughter as she prepares to adjust back to living at home. 

For now, it's time to go welcome the divers back --  here come 9 smiling girls in wetsuits! J

We will keep you updated on all of the members of our community as the semester slowly draws to a close. Thank you for sharing your daughters with us.

All the best,

Gennifre, Jennifer, Jim & Price

Jen, Heather, Caroline & Liz

Hello from Week 13 in Nicaragua!  The sun is shining upon us every day, sending down rays of happiness and energy as we visit with el gente and enjoy delicious comida.  The TTS21 family has been a busy group, using their Spanish skills to learn about the historical cities of Leon and Granada, and now speaking regularly with our group-stay family.  While in Granada, the girls set up teams of two, each specializing in one historical location, to then teach the rest of the group as walking tour guides.  Maggie and Abby were slightly disappointed to find the famous fort of Granada was closed, preventing the group from viewing the sunset from the guard tower.  Upon further practice of their Spanish translating skills and attempts to persuade the guard to let our school inside, they discovered the fort will actually be closed for a whole year, pending renovations.  Nevertheless, the walking tour was fantastic and will surely be rivaling the competition of Lonely Planet.

Classes have continued to progress each and every day, and the students have worked as a single team as they use their Spanish to learn about the world around them.   Kathryn translated an entire sustainable farming tutorial for the group at Finca Magdalena during the infamous TTS 3rd Annual Food Day.  Ruth taught the group about the United Fruit Company and their legacy in Nicaragua.  The science class argued the success and failures of GM foods, and the entire TTS group discussed NAFTA and CAFTA and the effects on Central America. Each class has been working hard in preparation for upcoming final exams.

Science:

The final segment of the semester has incorporated a closer look at agricultural practices around the world, as well as a more in depth study of both Guatemala and Nicaragua.  Students analyzed the composition of soil, and then completed a soil study in Santiago, Guatemala.  Students applied the soil identification triangle to accurately label the soil designation of the Lake Atitlan area.  Students observed the surrounding landscapes, recorded signs of past landslides, then problem solved to determine the different soil characteristics which would increase the probability for such disasters.  The study of agriculture continued with a discussion on sustainable agriculture, along with several guest speakers and experiential opportunities to local fincas (farms).  Students participated in a coffee finca tour, and applied their Spanish speaking skills to ask local Nicaraguan farmers about the local strategies and consequences of pest control.  Mikaela talked to several sources at Finca Magdalena, which led to a larger discussion within the classroom on the creation and implementation of pesticides throughout America.  Maggie, Eliza, and Abby embraced the opportunity to let their debating skills shine as students debated the pros and cons for genetically modified foods on Food Day.  The semester will culminate next week with students completing a research paper and oral presentation on an agricultural topic of their choice relating to Nicaragua.  Ava is focusing her studies on the effects of pesticides on the local biodiversity levels, and Ruth is analyzing the presence of physical and chemical resistance of organisms to the various pest control strategies of Nicaragua.

Algebra 2:

Students have continued to progress through the semester, completing several units of study in the past month and a half.  Students applied the principles of functions to graph and solve for inverse functions; they also analyzed conic functions, solving for critical points before constructing equations for parabolas, hyperbolas, circles, and ellipses.  Maggie and Ava regularly switched off using the whiteboard to teach various problems to the class.  They have embraced the opportunity to work together to problem solve through challenging questions, and have unanimously requested several times to hold extra classes to review the covered material.  The final unit of study on probability and statistics challenged students to identify inclusive or exclusive events, and then apply the correct equation to calculate the solution.  Students have analyzed standard deviation and the variance of several experiments then determined and identified the presence of outliers in the data sets.  The final cumulative exam will cover all chapters of the semester, with a stronger focus on the final two units of study.

– Jen

Math Concepts

The Math Concepts class has been very busy since our last update. The girls finished up the job search unit with mock job interviews based on the resumes and cover letters they created. Eliza interviewed for an internship with a green architecture firm; Simone applied for a position as a trail maintenance team leader; Kat interviewed for an internship with a non-profit in Nicaragua; and Annalise applied for work as a pharmaceutical tech. We then briefly studied saving, investing, and some basics of economics in order to lay foundation for the girls to understand the economics of NAFTA and CAFTA. Our study of these free-trade agreements culminated with a round table discussion on Food Day that was attended by all members of TTS21. The girls each took on a different persona and discussed the pros and cons of NAFTA and CAFTA from their assigned perspective. We completed our study of trade with a class debate on the World Trade Organization. Kat and Annalise argued in support of the WTO while Eliza and Simone argued against.

The last unit of our semester will allow us to take a step back from the global economy to investigate our own personal priorities. Our final Happiness Unit will pull in ideas from the iLife workshop on life passions and previous Math Concepts discussions on choosing a fulfilling job path. As girls read articles and complete a final project requiring them to look toward their future and contemplate how they will balance financial goals with less concrete, but certainly not less important, goals in areas such as lifestyle preference and needs for personal growth and fulfillment.

Pre-calculus

Emelia and Ruth continue with dedicated hard work in Pre-calculus. After completing our study of trigonometry, we moved on to conic sections including circles, ellipses, parabolas, and hyperbolas. The girls learned to mathematically appreciate the parabolic reflectors behind their headlamps that focus the light into a beam allowing them to study in tents after dark. They also had fun in a demonstration on the properties of ellipses that uses tacks and string to draw perfect elliptical arches. Ruth and Emelia are now finishing up their study of sequences and series with a small project involving the Sierpinski Triangle. We will finish the semester with a brief study probability and a final exam.

Beginning Spanish

The girls of the beginning Spanish class have continued to build on the enormous progress they made at the Mountain School. They have engaged in conversations with surf instructors, tour guides, hostel owners, and guest speakers. They have become comfortable asking questions to order food and navigate towns and have moved on to much more complicated conversations about daily life and culture with locals. Mikaela and Ruth used their Spanish skills to ask our guest speaker at Finca Magdalena about organic farming practices. Eliza and Simone practiced Spanish while playing with local children during recent community beach day with Project WOO. Abby continues to fearlessly engage in conversation with adults and children alike, always learning. Ava’s in-depth study of the uses of saber versus conocer and por versus para at the Mountain School prepared her to be a leader in our class discussions. We have studied various other grammar topics in class in order to give formal background to what the girls are learning through their immersion experiences. Additional topics have included the present progressive tense, weather expressions, the personal a, and reflexive verbs. We will complete the semester with an individual oral exam for each student and a group skit to showcase the girls’ Spanish skills. The skit will be performed one night in the Corn Islands and promises appearances from most influential people we have met on our trip.

--Heather

Advanced Spanish

To learn with your heart and not with your eyes, is a theme from El Principito (The Little Prince) that the girls will be elaborating on for their final essay as they wind down their semester here in Central America.  In addition, they have been reading, translating, and presenting current event articles and continuing to have conversations with the people we meet.  Each girl has had to complete a final project based on her level of fluency.  Kathryn translated the 1-hour presentation of our guest speaker, Felix Pascual, at La Finca Magdalena, while Annalise talked to the local workers to gather information about the petroglyphs on Ometepe Island and presented it to our group.  Anna and Emelia created exchange activities with our groupstay family, Don Ramon y Dona Lucia, in Playa Gigante, where we played name games and learned all the words to Cielito Lindo..."ay, yay, yay, yay, canta, no llores", (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjJDv1IeF8I) while Don Ramon accompanied us on the guitar.  It's been quite a week for immersion here in Playa Gigante and the girls have been taking full advantage!   --Liz

Class updates from Caroline . . .

Literature & Composition

I cannot believe the last two weeks of the semester are here! My classes are busy as we work to turn in final projects and assignments and take final exams. Juggling a packed schedule of cultural immersion, community service projects and academics is a testament to what your girls have become: seasoned TTS pros! The Lit students are currently writing the final drafts of their persuasive essays and finishing Tortilla Curtain, T.C. Boyles’ novel about a the interconnected lives of two men in a Los Angeles suburb.(http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/02/08/home/boyle-tortilla.html) The novel debates questions of immigration and class, asking the reader to re-evaluate the concept of the American Dream. The girls will take a final exam on the novel next week as we transition to the Corn Islands. For their persuasive essays, the girls have chosen their own topic and evidence, using a variety of sources from the semester including personal experiences, guest speakers and conversations with people met on our travels, books and articles, class discussions, and personal observations. Mikaela is writing her essay on the topic of teen pregnancy and early motherhood in Central America. She argues that because the vast majority of young women in Central America marry and have children at a young age, young women miss out on education and other experiences, depriving many of the chance to form an identity outside this role or to reach their full potential.

History

The history students are wrapping up the semester by writing an apology letter for a wrong-doing they observed this semester. Abby is writing her apology to the indigenous Maya of Guatemala, apologizing for the lack of education and understanding in the United States regarding the genocide that happened during the Civil War in Guatemala. Emelia and Kat gave their oral presentation on the events and implications of the Iran-Contra Affair last week. To wrap up our semester, we will be reading articles about the current politics and affairs of Nicaragua as well as staying up to date on major events in Guatemala and Central America, including the recent ruling in the Rios Montt Trial (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/world/americas/judge-in-guatemala-annuls-genocide-trial.html?emc=eta1) and the major spike in immigration from Central American countries to Mexico and the US.

Elementary School near Playa Gigante

Travel Journalism

Travel Journalism is revving up to write and attempt to publish final articles. Kat is writing about volun-tourism, using Project WOO (http://www.projectwoo.org/) as an example of the benefits and importance of giving back to and interacting with the communities in which we travel.  (See Surfing For Change video: http://www.surfingforchange.com/portfolio/surfing-for-change-travel-guide-to-nicaragua-full-movie-2013/) Annalise is looking at the differences between learning a language in a classroom and learning a language while traveling. She is writing about how being able to communicate in the language of the countries where you travel enhances and changes the traveling experience. The girls are also hard at work organizing and choosing photos for their final photography portfolio – an amazing endeavor showcasing three and a half months’ worth of skill-building and experimenting with new methods of picture-taking.

Physical Education

In P.E., students recently completed teaching student-led classes. In pairs, the girls designed and led the group through a work-out. Mikaela and Kat organized a capture-the-flag game in a park in central Granada. While in “jail”, prisoners had to do squats, push-ups and sit-ups before they could re-join the game. Eliza and Ava created a fast-paced workout which included short, high-intensity arms, legs, and core work-outs. We are all looking forward to scuba diving next week on Little Corn Island, which we hear is a tropical island paradise, far off the beaten path, unspoiled and completely unaffected by tourism. They say there are no cars nor roads-just good ole walking and swimming. WOW!

Global Studies

The girls have written their last R, R and R (Reflection, Reaction and Response) for Global Studies class and are in the process of finishing Enrique's Journey, a non-fiction account of a young migrant's harrowing journey from Honduras to the United States, jumping onto and off the moving boxcars to evade Mexican police and immigration authorities (http://www.enriquesjourney.com/). Each class we have divided the girls into discussion groups to talk about different aspects of the text. Ruth, Emelia, Simone and Eliza discussed the various communities Enrique encountered on his journey north. They decided that the leadership (Government officials, priests, etc.) in each community often set the tone for how immigrants were viewed and treated. For their final reflection, the girls will choose a passage from the book and analyze if and how they have read or understood the passage differently after taking Global Studies at TTS given all their background knowledge about the historical, cultural and political implications of the issues raised by this book. (See New York Times recent article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/27/world/americas/central-americans-pour-into-mexico-bound-for-us.html?emc=eta1&_r=0)

--Caroline 

**As an aside, today when checking in with Jen, she suggested the book Enrique's Journey has been  a powerful read for all the girls. This is a book, as a parent, you might want to read either before or after your daughter returns from the semester.