Bienvenidos to my Blog!

Hello Family, Friends, and Curious Readers,

Thanks for stopping in to see what I am up to. This is my first blog, and I hope not to bore you too much with the details of my life. But rather hope to offer you some insights into development work, the highs, the lows, and well the boring.

But before I move away for 27 months, let me give you a little information about myself before I lose a steady internet connection.

So after graduating from Boston College in 2005, I decided I wanted to learn Spanish and "save the world" so I moved to Cusco, Peru. I began by volunteering for The Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco by researching and writing a small business plan for the organization. I continued to work with the organization until February of 2008, when I returned to the US to prepare for my move to Madrid, Spain for 15 months to study an International MBA at IE Business School. And now, after a year of searching for the perfect development job, and taking odd jobs in the meantime, I have joined the Peace Corps and am volunteering again. So wish me luck, and PLEASE someone stop me from volunteering again!

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

National Congress and Competition

I should have reviewed what I had already posted on my blog before writing this... oh well, enjoy it anyway!

It's the end of the school year, classes have ended, and it's still a few days before the graduations of the three high schools I work with. In between end of year reports and errands, I figured this would be a great time to update my blog. And I just realized that I have posted NOTHING about the 1st Annual Entrepreneurship Congress and the 10th Annual Entreoreneurship Competition, that I along with four other members of Team Emprende (that's what we call ourselves) has been working on since DECEMBER of last year!!!

A little background first. So as you know, I teach 5th year high school students entrepreneurship as part of the National curriculum. Every year, the Peace Corps works to culminate the efforts of the students and teachers by throwing a competition series (local, municipal, regional, and national competitions). I signed up last year to be part of the team that not only organizes the National Competition, but is also in charge of fundraising for it, and therefore also in charge of the Fundraiser Gala (that had traditionally been known as the Cocktail Party). We met throughout the year, worked on guidelines for fellow volunteers, raised funds through events and grants, and to celebrate the 10th! year of competitions, we decided to add a Congress to the Competition to encourage the students to think critically about their futures, and provide them with additional tools to convert their academic business into a lasting business if they choose to do so.We also invited 16 Distinguished teachers that have been teaching the Emprendedurismo course for 5 years or more and continue to do so without the aid of a volunteer to honor them for their work in making Peace Corps' work sustainable. Each took home a huge box full of goodies that they can use for their classes. (That might not seem like anything special, but in a country where the teacher must foot the bill for any and all copies, papers, markers, etc they use in the classroom, it was huge!!!)

In the end, the event was a complete success! Everything from the Gala Fundraiser to the Congress to the Product Fair where I got to guide the US Ambassador to Nicaragua Ms. Phyillis Powers from table to table, was professional and exceptional. I am extremely proud to have been part of the team that put this incredible event together, that made such a difference in the lives of the students and teachers that attended.

I won't be able to put up many pictures here, but we have a ton on our Facebook page: Emprendedurismo
Please check it out! I will post the few pictures I have that I was able to take before my camera broke.
Hope everyone is well and that they are making good choices! Love you all!

Check-In

Decorated for Christmas

Gingerbread Train

The Courtyard

Convention Center

Team Emprende Members getting the Check-in table ready

The conference space

The big cheeseball modeling the backpacks given to the students

Snack time before we start!

PCVs checking in

Hamming it up!

Fellow PCV Julian with Bismark, a distinguished teacher from Matagalpa

Thanksgiving Pictures

So here are those pictures I promised! Sorry it took me longer than I thought... I ran out of space on the blog and had to buy more!!!
Dinner Table at the Ambassador's house!

Yessica and Carlos enjoying their meal

US Seal on the coffee cup!

Me, the Ambassador, Yessica, and Carlos

Me and the US Ambassador to Nicaragua Phyllis Powers. She was so nice!



Thursday, November 22, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello World,

First of all I apologize for abandoning my blog again! But I hope that you will forgive me after I tell you what I have been up to! But first of all, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all had a wonderful day and were able to spend time with your family and friends in whatever part of the world you encounter yourself.

This year, I felt even more thankful than normal as my time and life in the peace corps Nicaragua has taught me a lot about how fortunate I have been in my life so far, and how thankful I should be and am for all of the blessings I have received. I was lucky enough to spend the afternoon with some amazing people, fellow peace corps volunteers, volunteers with project Mana, staff from the US Embassy, and the Ambassador herself! That's right! The Ambassador of the US in Nicaragua was gracious enough to open her doors (and refrigerator) and fed about 40 people total! The food was amazing, the company was excellent, and it made me incredibly thankful for the time I have spent here in Nicaragua. I hope to be able to post some pictures soon of the lovely dinner.

In the meantime, let me tell you about the most amazing, awesome Small Business Plan Congress and Competition that I was privileged to attend and more importantly coordinate! We held the 10th annual National Business Competition and the 1st ever and hopefully-to-be-annual Congress at the Hotel Camino Real in Managua and in my opinion, as well as the Ambassador's, it was a great success! The students and teachers that attended learned a lot and in most people's opinion, the quality of the presentations on competition day was much higher than the previous years.

I will try to write more soon, but the triptofan (sp?) from the turkey and the exhaustion of the previous week's worth of work has made me very tired. So I will leave you with some pictures of the event, with the intention to post more soon!

Love you all! Make good choices!

Check-in at the hotel

Already decorated for Christmas

A Gingerbread train in the hotel restaurant

The lobby of the conference area

The courtyard to the conference, this tree had Christmas lights at night

Getting ready for check-in

Final details before we got started

Team Emprende ready to check people in!

Checking in the teachers!

So excited to get backpacks!!!

A quick snack before we start...


PCVs checking in!

Me presenting a student with his backpack for the congress


Student groups presenting themselves

SUPER APCD Georgia giving the opening remarks

A Professor Sharing his thoughts...



Sunday, October 21, 2012

Crema de Chocolate con Mani #2

The second place group is called "Delicias" Crema de Chocolate con Mani.

For those of you that don't speak spanish, thats Chocolate Cream with Peanuts. And lordy does it taste awesome. Think the Nicaragua equivalent to Nutella... but with peanuts. These girls actually stumbled upon this product when their prototype wouldn't harden to make a chocolate bar. So I suggested just changing the name and calling it a cream. Dang its good. Very sweet but awesome! Plus they have access to some of the best cacao in the world here, as it is grown in our region of Matagalpa. Seriously how lucky am I? I live in a place where cacao and coffee are grown!

Here are some pictures of the girls from their school competition!
Their display of basic ingredients peanuts and cacao, and their product in 5oz. cups.

Their logo and slogan

The girls during their presentation at the local level.
These girls will also be attending the Regional Competition with me, so please feel free to donate via Paypal!!!

CuMix ~ Cuajada con Vegetales #1

CuMix is the name of the team that took first place at the municipal competition in Matagalpa this year. It is essentially a fresh cheese (cuajada) that they have added vegetables too. Think goat cheese with herbs, or veggie cream cheese.

Cuajada is a cheese that is consumed in quantities in every Nicaraguan household. This group has taken that same product and made it taste soooo much better! Their slogan is "Giving health, flavor, and color to your life" (it sounds much better in Spanish "Dando Salud, Sabor, y Color a tu vida") Here are some pictures from their local competition so you can see the product and their display.
Yummy Yummy!

Their original logo

Different ways to try the cuajada

The Team!
The new logo, that was actually designed by the 8 year old brother of one of the group members... I put it into its electronic form though ;)
Feel free to support these awesome students through a $5 or $10 donation! Just go to paypal.com and donate using my email address! Thanks for your support in advance!

Municipal Competition Pictures

Here are pictures from the municipal business plan competition we held this past Wednesday. I figured it would be more interesting to see rather than read!

Students from INEP explaining their product to a teacher

Don Limon relaxing before their presentation

Crema de Chocolate y Mani ~ Delicias They won second place

Getting the puppy ready for the dog salon presentation

The judges working hard to review business plans

Natural Shampoo

Chilero del Norte's Presentation (They made a lime based vinegar)

Questions from the judges

Mochibolosos "Be Cool" This group made a reversible backpack/shoulder bag

Modeling the shoulder bag


I actually have more pictures, I just need to get them from a fellow teacher. My camera battery died mid competition, but I will do a special feature on both the first and second place teams (those I am taking to the regional competition) now!. Keep making good choices! Love yas