Felice Prindle

Felice Prindle is a School Counselor at Webster Thomas High School in Webster, New York.

She also developed and coordinates the Service Learning Program: Titan Service Scholars. Service Scholars is a curricular program actively engaging students in meaningful, sustainable service learning through individual and group projects thus gaining a better understanding of local and global needs through education and action.

The program—available for all 1,200 students—aims to develop students who explore new possibilities, embrace new challenges, and adapt to new roles through service. Each year, global impact projects allow students and alumni the opportunity to grow intercultural competence, increase understanding of shared humanity, and gain profound knowledge about themselves and the world. On average, Service Scholars graduate with 200+ hours of service.

Felice has been leading international service since 2016. Over this time, she has taken over 300 students on Global Impact Projects to Cuba, Peru, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. These projects are in partnership with the local community completing ecological, educational, agricultural, and infrastructure work to create necessary, lasting change.

Her work in the Dominican Republic is especially near to her heart: She has led 12 projects in the Bateyes region of the country assisting sugarcane cutting communities composed primarily of Haitian migrant workers laying over 95 cement floors and constructing 10 latrines. Since 2021, she returns with student and alumni groups every six months. Most recently, her students have begun supplying medicine and supplies to sustain mobile medical clinics throughout the region due to the loss of USAID funding. Her alumni groups co-facilitate these medical clinics during their annual summer experience in addition to the infrastructure work.

What is a major highlight from your student travel experiences?

Real service requires sacrifice. And growth as a result of service requires vulnerability. Perhaps the biggest highlight of student travel is in holding space for their personal growth through service and reflection. Students will remark that Global Impact Travel provided the opportunity for acute examination of themselves so much so it allowed for contemplation and articulation of their current and future purpose.

On our most recent project in the Dominican Republic, one student shared: “This is not a vacation- absolutely not- but I do think it’s a vacation from privilege and all the privileges we have in America… Before I came here I was so blessed and I didn’t know it: I get to walk into my house with a brand new floor, if I’m cold I go take a hot shower, if I’m sick I go straight to the doctor because I never have to worry about those things ever. But here, any of these kids would give anything to have that. I think I’ve learned I have to do things when it’s hard, I need to do things when I’m not happy, I need to do things when I’m in pain… for the kids who can’t.”

Watching in real time as students understand their duty of care to themselves and others is astounding. As a result of their service experiences, students have chosen to pursue futures in non-profit management, legal aid, international relations, etc. But regardless of the degree title, students who participate in Global Impact Travel undoubtedly make room for peace, goodwill, and justice in their personal and professional pursuits for both their local and global communities. 

What is the greatest lesson you or your students have learned from your trips?

Self-reflection, acceptance, empathetic compassion & humility: When I arrived in the Bateyes in December 2017, I knew my life would forever be changed. Deep in the sugarcane fields on the road to La Mora everything I knew about the world was challenged. Kneeling in the dirt in Monte Coca, my identity was challenged. I encountered a version of myself I never knew: powerful, compassionate, grateful, resilient & full of resolve. And since that day I never left the Bateyes. I’ve lived there in my heart and in my mind for the past nine years.

The heartbeat of humanity is in the Bateyes. It’s the intersection of the unbearable greed of global commerce and the unbreakable goodness of community. It’s where we find our better selves and lean into vulnerability. We listen more; judge less and in doing so we experience real empathy. There is a lifetime of work (and more) to do in the Bateyes and I’ve been privileged to pick up a shovel. 

How do you try to tie your travel experiences back into the classroom?

I always tell my students ‘sometimes you have to travel far from home to see your backyard more clearly’. Pre-travel we watch documentaries, read non-fiction related to the critical issue through which we will participate in service and conduct interviews. Within a month of our return we host a Community Brunch, inviting our families, friends, and sponsors to enjoy live reflections of our experiences which deepens our learning and posits us as advocates at home.

We also participate annually in Rochester’s Global Citizenship Conference presenting on a multitude of topics related to our travel service experiences thereby expanding the knowledge of issues of global commerce, immigration policy, fair trade, international labor practices, and cross-cultural competence to a larger audience of prospective teen changemakers. In terms of making connections of impact travel experiences to the classroom we do so on a grand-scale through our annual Exhibition where students articulate the learning outcomes of service through a thesis-like poster and research presentation for our school. Many of our students earn the New York State Seal of Civic Readiness as a result of their participation in Global Impact travel.

Photo courtesy of Felice Prindle.