With the new year comes new faces in the classroom, new amazing individuals to meet. As all of you should already know, Mr. Hamilton is teaching history to many of the upperclassmen. Although you may be taking his class, it is possible that you have not gotten the chance to truly know him. These series of questions and answers will hopefully give you a bit more insight into Mr. Hamilton as a person and encourage you to get to know him better in real life.
What made you come to Nicaragua, particularly NCA, in the first place?
So, I came to Nicaragua for the first time when I was 16 years old for a mission trip. I had been going to a new youth group for two weeks, and I heard they were going to Nicaragua so I signed up to go on it without having any clue where it was or what I was getting myself into. I fell in love with the country and the people here. Especially coming from an American background where my parents were well off, it was good for me to see the poverty here and the struggles that people go through and then to go meet those different than me. But because we both love Jesus we were able to come together despite our differences. So, I’ve been coming back to Nicaragua ever since then and in 2019 I came down here to live for four months and I got to know some of the teachers here in NCA. Some of them tried to recruit me to come teach at this school and I thought, “I am never, ever going to do that. I am never becoming a teacher.”
But since Covid, I got very bored of staying and sitting at home. I was working as a landscaper, and I felt like the same day was repeating itself over and over again. I rolled out of bed one day and thought to myself, “You know, if NCA has a history teacher position available, I think I would apply for it. I want to change my life up with a new opportunity.” That was coincidentally the only position left, and two weeks later, I was living in Nicaragua!
When and how did you find your passion in history?
I got to listen to audiobooks while working as a landscaper. I blew through hundreds of books while I was working. I particularly fell in love with history books and learning about the past has been a great way to learn about myself as a person and understand more about different people groups. I find individual people absolutely fascinating, so I’ve loved delving into history and looking at an individual’s life, seeing how the events of their life shaped the kind of person they are.
I probably wouldn’t have come here to teach if it wasn’t for the fact that I was listening to War and Peace while I was working, which was great because it gave me a month’s worth of content. It was a 65 hour book on Audible. I was thinking to myself that I would absolutely love to talk about this book to people and about the Napoleonic wars, but I had nobody to talk with about this. So I thought, “I should become a history teacher because then people would have to listen to me talk about history!” I genuinely enjoy interacting with kids and some of you are getting older and are on the border of being adults. It ‘s been fun for me because I can relate to these students quite a bit since I’m old enough to be in a mentor position, but close enough in age to be relatable to them.
Is there anything interesting you want to share about yourself?
I can touch my nose with my tongue!
If you were shipwrecked on a deserted island and you had all of your human necessities, like food and water, then what item would you bring with you?
I would bring either a book or something to listen to music on.
