Students Speak: The Value of ‘Far’

Students Speak: The Value of ‘Far’

Written by Teryn Hytten, 17, a junior in Hinesburg, Vermont, for the World Is A Classroom essay contest. How far do you want to be from the program house? Five minutes? Ten? We were gearing up to start our nine-day homestays in San Juan La Laguna, Guatemala, and I was...
Students Speak: Lifting Each Other Up

Students Speak: Lifting Each Other Up

The van door closed behind me as my foot touched down onto a gravel road. As our group moved packs of chips and energy drinks from the trunk to a couple of small, time-worn red wagons, I started to pay attention to the streets surrounding me. Newspapers and plastic...
Students Speak: Just Play

Students Speak: Just Play

We arrived in Arizona with light baggage and heavy hearts. My mom, dad, and two younger brothers were all present, but someone was missing: my little sister-turned-angel, Mandy. She had been gone for just under a month when we piled into our Yukon XL (perfect for four...
Students Speak: Africa in Paris

Students Speak: Africa in Paris

“La police est là!” Women with colorful dashikis dart from their posts as a Paris police car pulls up scanning for illegal activity. Peanut vendors quickly transform into ordinary men walking the streets of little Africa, while the women carry innocent smiles,...
Students Speak: Learning Independence

Students Speak: Learning Independence

When the Nazis stormed into Lithuania on June 22, 1941, the fate of Lithuanian Jewry seemed sealed. The Jews of Lithuania were immediately rounded up and forced into ghettos they were told would protect them from the war. The Nazi regime, with the help of Lithuanian...