Schools

Over the course of two days, we visited four different schools. In each school we visited that had students, every student was wearing a uniform. About half of the schools we went to had murals hand-painted on the walls, and just like the rest of Panama, there were dogs everywhere.

School #1- We arrived at this school around 1:30 in the afternoon on Wednesday. The school consisted of three levels of classrooms with the hallways almost exclusively outdoors. Even though there were no students at this school, (except for a few kids practicing instruments and a couple construction workers) we got to see inside a couple of classrooms, walk into the gym, and look through a big gate at the school pool. The coolest thing about this school was the fountain. It didn't have a drop of water in it, but it did have a huge, three-dimensional map of Panama. 

School #2- As soon as we got out of the bus at this school we knew it was fancier than the first. This school consisted of more buildings than I could've counted, some being one story and others two. It was very modern and most of the classrooms even had smart-boards. The lady showing us around said that the school’s first birthday was just last week. As we walked around the outdoor hallways of this school, class let out and the hallways were flooded with students from the age of six to eighteen. The students kept asking us to take pictures with them, and multiple people in our group commented on how it felt like we were celebrities. Though this school was really nice, it was hard not to notice the huge, barbed wire, prison-like fence surrounding the facility. Security must be a top priority in Panama, because the first school we visited also had aspects similar to a prison with bars on the classroom windows. 

School #3- The third school was nothing like the first two schools. Class was in session while we were there, and unlike the first two schools, we were shown around by a group of older students. We got to see five different classrooms, the library, and the gymnasium. We even got to play with basketballs, soccer balls, and volleyballs when in the gym. We were allowed to take pictures in every room we visited and some in between. One thing about this school that was particularly different from those in America was the number of religious symbols placed throughout the building. Murals of Jesus and the three wise-men, crucifixes hanging on the walls, and statues of the Virgin Mary could be seen throughout the school.

School #4- We all met at this school at about 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning on Thursday. Unlike the other three schools, this one was in Santa Clara. Mónica, the woman in charge of our family stays, teaches there and arranged for us to paint three murals on the school walls. All three murals were of the earth and had to do with going green and diversity. We only had blue, green, black, and yellow paint to paint with, but we made do. My favorite memory from this school was when Duncan rode one of the student’s bicycles around the school yard and all the little kids ran after him screaming and pushing him faster.

School #3- We went back to this school Thursday night and listened to the band practice, it was really cool. The band is huge and consisted of kids of all ages. They marched constantly and played all kinds of songs. Instead of a dance team, they had Panamanian dancers who wore long skirts and boys who wore sideways cowboy hats. They played a couple songs as they marched around the gym and then split off into sections. I went over with a few other kids and listened to the drummers practice. It was probably one of my top ten experiences on the trip. They would improvise a beat and then all the drummers would just keep adding to it. One kid had six drums hanging off his shoulders and would show off for us, drumming as fast as he could. After they split up, they all got back together as a band and stood in more orchestra-like positions and played more songs, including “Moves Like Jagger.” The dancers came into the audience and took a few of us out to dance, then all of us danced while the band played. It was a lot of fun! During some parts of the songs, the tuba players and some of the bigger drum set players would put their instruments on the ground and dance around them. We were told that the band won the equivalent of state in November.

All in all, the schools in Panama are very different from those in the States, but the people at every school were very kind to us and did a great job of speaking slow enough and clear enough for us to understand what they were saying. Much love from the Adventure Club.  - Grace Mader

painting of Eric, by Nevin

Eric and Nevin with painting