GLA Blog » Thoughts on International Education

Archive for November, 2009

November 30th, 2009 by GLA Executive Director

GLA alumni donates 300 pounds of school supplies to Ghana

Global Leadership Adventures alumni Allison Hoffman was featured in the Patriot Ledger newspaper for collecting 300 pounds of school supplies to donate to the school she volunteered at in Ghana during her GLA program.

Read the full article here.

Often students ask me about donating supplies to the organizations that they volunteer at and I normally reply by saying that it’ll cost more to ship the donation than it would to simply buy the materials locally.

However, Allison was able to obtain a donation of shipping from the owner of a logistics company. I also like how she turns down the offer to send electric pencil sharpeners. She’s smart and aware enough to just collect supplies that can be used by the local community and use appropriate technology.

Kudos to you Allison for staying involved!

Posted in Alumni Action | No Comments »

November 24th, 2009 by GLA Executive Director

Wind Power in the Australian Outback

Since the Australian outback is pretty remote, there’s a chronic problem with providing its residents access to services. There’s a cool program called “School of the Air” that offers classes to remote communities by broadcasting classes over the radio. On the Global Leadership Adventures program in Australia, we’ll visit the School of the Air and other innovative social programs serving isolated communities.

This article about a wind power project in Australia’s Northern Territory is really encouraging. Not only with this wind turbine replace an old polluting diesel generator, it will save $80,000 a year in fuel costs and should also provide a model that can be replicated throughout remote parts of the country.

Posted in Intl. Affairs | No Comments »

November 24th, 2009 by GLA Executive Director

Sleeping under the stars in the Australian Outback

Our new 2010 catalog just came out and I’m especially excited about our program in the Australian outback. When I was in college I remember looking for programs in Australia, but was disappointed that most programs stayed on the coast – Sydney, or to the eastern side of the country (Canberra and Melbourne).

So, the new Global Leadership Adventures program is innovative because we’re flying deep into the heart of the Australian outback where we’ll volunteer in aboriginal communities and learn about their traditional culture. High school students will have the chance to learn about aboriginal spirituality, dot-painting, traditional herbal medicine and how to survive in the bush.

Since we’ll be out in the bush, we’ll be camping as we slowly make our way from Darwin, down to Alice Springs. I can’t wait for the first group to go, I hope to join them. Sleeping under the stars far from civilization sounds perfect as we head into winter here in the USA!

Posted in High School Specific | No Comments »