Elmer Zambrana-Architecture

In My Own Words July 2018 "Hi dear readers, God bless you a lot. It is a pleasure for me to share with you a little bit about my experience at HEDU.org also known as BECA.org. My name is Elmer Zambrana Calderon; I am from Diriomo – Granada. I studied Advance Technician in Architecture at INTECNA. How did I know about the foundation? Well it was through my mom´s friend who informs us about the scholarship that the foundation was offering to study a technical career. It was a great opportunity that most youth with not financial resources have the chance to know about the foundation but that was not my case, after I finish my high school I spent one year without studying, In fact I was not expecting to continue studying, but now I am so grateful with God that gave me the chance to know about this wonderful foundation. It was because my mom motivates me to continue studying, that was the reason why I visited the foundation’s office in Masaya in order to fill out the documents to get a scholarship. I met the coordinators Reynaldo, Urania and Sorania they shared me all necessary information about the process, after that I had to wait to see if I was one of the lucky ones but I had to take an interview at home so I could apply to Course one. Course One is the first stage so we can get a technical career, it consist on 3 months of computer course and other 3 more months supporting elementary school. During the first three months I studied at INTECOMP, I met the first group of classmates that in the same way as me were exited of getting a scholarship. I remember that there were different groups in the morning and in the afternoon that year there were a lot of youth people starting the course but the saddest thing was that some of them gave up due to the different rules that we had to follow, but as a responsible student we had to make a big effort with following the rules. I learned a lot about computers but for some of us, it was a little difficult because not all of us had a computer at home to practice. After spending too many time with computers we had to initiate with the 3 months of school support-(Brigada), in the same way as in the first three months of computer course rules were different, here I met my new group of classmates that on this stage we felt that the scholarship was almost our but we knew there were some other goal to achieve. During the Brigada I went to an elementary school in Catarina really close to where I live at, I had to travel early to be punctual and hit the goal, I never imagine being at the classroom with too many kids that we had to help. It was an amazing experience because it helped me to improve every day on different aspects like being more responsible, punctual, expressive and with more willingness to learn more to show others the value of knowledge. At the end I was able to complete this last stage of Course one so I could get a scholarship to study my Technical career that I mention before. On this new stage that is named Intensive BECA, which consist on studying a technical career for no more than three years, being an average student, however I was able to follow the rules with the only difference that now they were more strict, because if not we had to assume our consequences like lose our scholarship. I Offer my assistantship at a government construction that belonged to the town hall - Nandaime as a supervisor. The project was about building a clinic for people with special abilities, it had a projection of 50m2 for approximately 70 people with all types of stuff that a construction requires. The position I got was on the administration of all materials, cost and budget with the right application on each of the different process of construction. It was a period of many technician knowledge that during the time I was a student, I did not really learn in deep, because work environment is different when you are receiving instructions at the classroom, here you have to be self-taught because you have to put in to practice all your skills and apply all your knowledge for your own benefit and the company you are offering assistantship. After I finish my assistantship I worked for a couple of months at the town hall, but due to health issues I had to quit that opportunity to continue reinforcing my knowledge. After that I start working for my own and start saving some money, after that I decided to continue studying, that's the reason why now I am studying Engineering on Design and Construction at UPONIC (Universidad Popular de Nicaragua), which is related to the technical career I studied, now because of my experience I am about to graduate me as an engineer. Currently I am in the process of being a Technical Teacher at INATEC so I can teach Civil Construction, that is the reason why I am so glad with my family for giving me its support, but principally God for giving the knowledge and the opportunity to practice my occupation and of course to BECA.org for giving the chance of being who I am now I days and also for working with the education of many youth people with the wishes of continue studying so they can fight for their own goals. Blessings... * Translated by Elvin Palacios (March 2020)