Student Feature: Dawn of the Final Day (by Diana Zepeda)

“There’s 21 days or 3 weeks of Leadership and Service and Session 2 comes out just to end it. “
- Phineas and Ferb, Opening Song (Heavily Edited). Today is our last day of the program because
tomorrow doesn’t count! As the last entry in the session 1’s blog timeline, I intended to write
something sappy, tug at the heartstrings sweet, but now that I sit here to write this, I don’t know if I
want that anymore. Life is all about challenges and just like the essay before this is about overcoming
fears, tangible and intangible. Although, I can’t say this will be any less cheesy than my original idea.

On Thursday, We held a party for kids at AMANC. I was fully content with serving food and
helping decorate. I haven't really interacted with the kids at AMANC and did not expect to now.
Until, I met two boys who looked kinda uncomfortable and didn't know what to do with themselves.
Even though I'm not very good with kids, I could let these kids not have fun at their own party. Even
after playing a few party games, they still looked like they wanted to leave as soon as possible, so as the
little kid often in that scenario and begging their mom to leave as soon as possible, I tried to cheer them
up in the same way I would have been cheered up. A sword fight. A balloon sword fight that is. And
despite the claims, I had a noble loss. More like a truce, but to be fair, they were really strong.
We ate, sang, and danced at the party. Even watched a show and sat in horror as one of our friends
committed one of the worst food crimes known to man. Now I write this in preparation for our own
party which officially marks the end of our time here. I reflect on my time. From the friends I made to
my freak outs in the cenote, ultimately, it was all a learning experience. It was only 3 weeks, counting 21
days total of the Leadership and Service program Session 1, and it was every adjective you could think
of as a synonym for fun.