Calendar to benefit 2017 Nicaragua trip

Submitted by Lopez School Spanish Club

A collection of Greg Ewert’s photos featuring the youth of Nicaragua grace a new calendar supporting Lopez School Spanish Club’s service trip to Nicaragua.

A beloved member of our Lopez community, Ewert died of a brain tumor in 2012, but the biennial service trip to Nicaragua he first led in 2001 continues, and the sale of this calendar will help support the ninth such trip in February of 2017.

The calendars will be available at the Preschool Holiday Bazaar on Saturday, Nov. 26, in the Lopez School Gym, along with whole bean coffee from El Porvenir, the mountaintop coffee community where Lopez students perform ongoing service projects. Calendars may also be purchased at Lopez Bookshop in the village.

The photos featured in this 2017 calendar resulted from Ewert’s love of photography and his gift for connecting with youth.

“Greg had a deep connection with students at Lopez School and it’s no surprise that he made the same connection with kids in Nicaragua,” shared Lisa Geddes, Lopez School’s Spanish teacher, who has led the trips since 2011.

Geddes recently found a CD of Ewert’s photos in a storage cabinet during a move for the school renovation project.

“They struck me as such a treasure and so very much an expression of Greg’s heart that we wanted to share them with the Lopez community,” she said.

In February, seven Lopez students and four adults will embark on the trip to Nicaragua. They will participate in service projects at El Porvenir as well as at a medical clinic serving one of the poorest communities in the country, Nueva Vida, just outside of Managua. In addition to their service projects, the Lopez students will take trips to several natural areas and historic sites in Nicaragua, and will learn about the cultural and political aspects of modern Nicaragua.

The calendar is the latest of several fundraising activities taken on by the trip participants. Also happening this month is Latin American dinner (eat-in or take-out) at Vita’s from 5:30–7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 19.

The Nicaragua trip is a part of the international travel program at Lopez School and is made possible in part by Lopez InSTEP, Lopez International Student Travel Education Program. In addition to purchasing calendars and coffee, which will support the Nicaragua trip, all of Lopez School’s International travel programs (ongoing educational trips to France, Quebec, and Japan) can be supported by a donation to InSTEP.