Simulation Day

Today we had the first innovation academy, even though it was only a simulation it allowed us to understand and experience how the academy was going to work. We all met in school at 8, like a normal school day, and then we departure to Pentagonito where the race was going to be hosted. The race was to raise awareness for down syndrome people; when we got there I saw many people who had this syndrome and where going to run, it was very exiting and different experience. While warming up with all the runners I was able to see the down syndrome people enjoying themselves and how something so small could mean so much to them, I felt fulfilled while looking at these people having a great time.  After the race we headed to Miraflores, where we rented the bikes and did a cool route through Barranco, which my group and I designed. While biking we were able to experience amazing views of the Costa Verde and we where also able to visit the MAC museum where we saw many unique and varieties of pieces of art by international artists. My favorite where the pictures with montage by Scarlett Hooft Graafland, I will try something like that one day.  After the biking activity we moved towards our last activity in Mamacona. Here we did hoarse back riding, unfortunately I wasn’t able to ride because I had some allergies but I was still able to learn interesting facts about “caballos de paso” and I was able to take cool pictures of my peer’s horse back riding.  All though it was a long day I had an amazing taste of what innovation was going to be like, by doing fun and purposeful activities we where able to learn many things. One of the most memorable learning experience I had from today was the importance of being empathetic. From the race I learned that even though down syndrome people have a disease that makes them different doesn’t mean that we have to treat them differently. They are capable of doing the same activities normal people do, they demonstrated this by running the 5 km, therefore it’s important to be empathetic towards them and make them feel comfortable without treating them differently and understanding their situation.  Also when visiting the MAC museum I realized that we had been as a group disrespectful to the guide, since we talked as she talked, it is important to be empathetic to her and understand that she gives up her time to talk about these works of art for us to learn. Also as she listens to our questions attentively and she is willing to answer them we have be more empathetic by listening to her explanations as well. To sum up, today I learned the importance of being empathetic, not only towards other people but also amongst us, people in the group, and listen to each other as we speak or reflect because we can all learn from each other.