We gathered together as a group to discuss the trip, favorite memories, key takeaways, why other students and teachers should participate in the Global Education Program, and new understandings. Here are some of the things people had to say:

Harrison Hinton

I came back from the trip with a new level of comfort with myself and with those I got to travel with. I felt how difficult it was to explain the trip to people who have never been to Senegal, and that made me feel closer to those I was able to experience it with. I tried telling my aunt about the experience, but when I was showing her pictures all she wanted to know was whether I had seen any elephants or giraffes. It was hard to share the actual points of what we did and what we learned.

I’ve also been thinking a lot about food since getting back. The day I got back, I bought a rotisserie chicken – the things that we don’t see in our own food really stood out to me.  We went from literally eating food that was cooked slowly in front of us into eating so many hidden things here in the US.

I found myself procrastinating less.  Now I will get home and still eat dinner and everything but not sit on my phone as much. I use free time to actually DO things.  I find I have more motivation to do things and to put away the distractions.  I got back and noticed my messy closet and how much stuff there is that I don’t use.  Old clothes, stuff my mom bought without asking me.  I don’t need that stuff.  I just wear a handful of things.  I feel the extra materials of my house weighing on me.  Giving it to somebody else might help free me of the clutter and give me more time and mental space for doing everything I want to do.

Davis Bugg

Explaining the trips and what we do is harder and harder after each trip because I feel I have become more and more immersed in the real world that is beyond our white fences.  It’s hard to describe and share the experience.  I don’t really talk about the trips outside of my house. 

The change in food and diet gets me every time.  It’s not so much my body just getting used to the food again – it’s about our standards here in the US vs. in the rest of the world.  The things we put in our food or what’s in the food at Food Lion.  There’s so much stuff in something like a rotisserie chicken at Food Lion – so many contaminants.

I feel like I have more of a motivation to learn.  I was motivated before but now I am more interested in little things – reading at night, stuff like that. I feel the obligation to understand what is going on around me and in our world.

Christopher Rhoads

I am so glad I decided to do the trip and I don’t think I would have done it without my friends.  I feel the support of having gone and having been there.  I got the full immersion during the first week and even though I missed the second, I feel like I felt the difference.  Such a different way of life.

Coming back, I am very thankful for what I have.  I appreciate the things I have.  It really opened my eyes to notice the little things, and the things I would have otherwise ignored.  To focus on relationships.  To realize what really matters.

Chase Carneal

One thing I noticed when I got my bag back on the trip and since getting back here is that I am thinking a lot about what I am wearing and what I have again.  I think the trip allowed me to focus on experiencing things rather than obsessing over things like appearance.  There was even a 3 day period when I didn’t even see myself in a mirror or a selfie, but it really didn’t matter.  That mental space was just different and I was able to experience more without obsessing about how I look.

Paula Sancho

I have stayed in touch with a lot of people we met during our time in Senegal. A student from Mr. N’Doye’s school was asking me about coming back to the US and what it has been like since the trip.  I want to talk to her again and hear about how everyone is going back in the village, how is school going, etc. I feel like I have an actual connection to the world now, even though it felt just like a small thing when we were there. That kind of communication I can do now really opens up my opportunity to understand the world.

Cayetana Fernandez

Now I see everything differently.  Even if my friends give me something or are nice to me, I am more grateful.  I see the world differently now – I have a new perspective. I do not just see things and homework anymore. I see opportunities, connections, and things to work on. I see the reason to be. Senegal helped me see beyond what I thought I understood.

Kaia Deane

I think the trip helped with my humanities class and my ability to actually understand some of the things we are supposed to be learning.  I went back and reread what I wrote about Islam in my humanities quiz before going to Senegal and realized how much I learned. I realized I had it wrong in some ways – that my understanding just based from class was limited.  Reading about Islam and actually seeing it in action are very different things. Wearning the hijab, breaking the fast, and praying with people in Senegal’s largest mosque really opened my eyes to the truth.

I am also more grateful for my sport and now having the ability to sail whenever I want to.  I am not complaining about the cold or the heat or things like that.  I think about the different opportunities we have here – a brand new sailing fleet, people to help us everywhere, lots of resources – and I want to make sure I am using them to actually succeed.

Cindy Zhang

After seeing their school in Niognani, where a lot of students are achieving despite their resources, I feel like there’s a girl in that school whose example I need to follow.  Her English was so good even though she doesn’t have some of the tools we have to learn English or another language.  That showed that we are all the same in the end as learners, and we all need to take advantage of the moments we have.

Skyler Casey

My family took me shopping for my birthday the first weekend I got back.  I was done within 5 minutes.  I felt like I didn’t want the things in the aisles even though it was my birthday. My desire to learn and to understand and to be part of the world was much more real than my desire to buy the next thing put in front of me.  That side of the family just didn’t get it and couldn’t imagine everything I was telling them and why I didn’t just want things. This showed me how much the trip had really changed my way of thinking and engaging with my own life.

Mr. Pausic

I think about this strange idea often and certainly thought about it a lot when we were traveling around Senegal – I don’t think our brain is designed for all of the things we have.  Our brains haven’t changed in thousands of years and yet here we are – in this time of technology.  We’re not meant to keep track of so many things.  We’re supposed to have space and time that is constrained by the natural world around us.  Our brains aren’t meant to try to manage so so so many distractions.  We miss the basic things.  We create overwhelming situations.  Cars.  Technology.  How are we supposed to keep ours heads on straight?

Even if some people won’t get it, you can take the emotions, behaviors, and memories and carry them forward into your life.  You’ll find a place to use them.  In your game, at dinner, in your project, in your friendships, etc.  You can still use what you learn.

I think Senegal is the most comfortable place I have ever been.