Parents call me all the time asking about GLA, but often it emerges that they don’t even know how to think about choosing a summer program. They’re bombarded by a ton of catalogs and often just select whichever organization has the prettiest catalog. Obviously, this is not the best way to figure out where to send your teenage son or daughter.
Our calls usually turn into sessions where I help parents construct a mental framework to think about all the summer program options available. Here are some of the key questions to ask:
1. Honestly (really, honestly) how emotionally mature and globally minded is your child? This can help you answer whether they are even ready for an international program. If you’re not sure if they’re ready, then maybe start with a 1 week program in Latin America. If they have already traveled extensively with school or family, then let them go further out.
2. What is the objective of doing the summer program? Is it purely for fun? Is it to foster personal development? Is it to earn some needed community service hours? Is it to explore a personal passion about a certain part of the world? Its amazing how many families haven’t asked themselves what they hope to get out of the program. Start with the general goal and then work backwards.
3. What kind of peer group do you want your child to be surrounded by? Is it an all-American group? Do all the students come from the same part of the USA? Is the student body diverse? If so, in which way?
Global Leadership Adventures prides itself on trying to recruit an international student body. Although the majority of students still come from the USA and UK, we have students from throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America. For some families, this is not what they want. For others, getting their son or daughter to be part of an international student body is a unique benefit.
I realize now that there are a lot more things to consider when choosing a teen volunteer abroad program. I will continue this thread in a separate post.
We asked our alumni to send in the best videos that could capture their GLA summer experience abroad. We received a video from almost every destination, and we were blown away by the creative skills of our students. We originally planned to select only three winners, but four students did such a supreme job that we will now be giving away four prizes!
1st Place – Martin Hoang – 2, 388 votes
“GLA Australia 2010: Outback Adventures”
“Make a career of humanity – and you will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.” – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
This quote by Dr. King sums up Global Leadership Adventures’ mission. Beyond taking high school students on community service programs around the world, we simply want all students around the world to consider their role in the world and their responsibility to fellow human beings, regardless of nationality or culture.
Although 2009 was a difficult year due to the economic crisis, the events in Haiti have caused many people to reflect on how fortunate and blessed they are regardless of the tough economic times. Haiti has caused people to rally around a cause and donate even during tough times.
This reminds me of another quote, by Anne Frank: “No one has ever become poor by giving.”
This Monday, on MLK Day of Service, we urge all students to consider their role in the world and their commitment to community service – not just on MLK Day – but throughout the year. Whether service is international or domestic or in your local neighborhood, there’s no better way to honor Dr. King’s legacy than joining hands in service to others.
Answer “life’s most persistent and urgent question,” as Dr. King called it, “What are you doing for others?” Make this Martin Luther King Day of Service a day on, not a day off.
– 48% of teen applicants have traveled outside the United States by their 18th birthday.
– 29% of teens who vacationed with family traveled outside the U.S. and Canada
– 8 out of 10 teens seeking cultural enrichment joined study abroad programs while nearly 20% studied U.S. history and culture within their own country.
– Africa-Middle East saw the largest increase in outbound teen travel — 48% — as 4.3% of the 2009 applicants wrote about the region compared with just 2.9% in 2007.
This is extremely encouraging, especially considering that approximately 85% of Americans do not even have passports.
Not only has the drop in airfare (since deregulation in the 80′s) made international travel, but the choice of destinations is trending toward non-traditional destinations.
We interpret the rise in travel to Africa and volunteering as part of a much larger mega-trend of students caring more about international issues such as poverty and public health as well as a reduction in fear of traveling to unknown parts of the world.
Global Leadership Adventures has re-doubled its commitment to teen volunteer summer programs in Africa by offering programs in Ghana, Tanzania and South Africa.
We just formed a new Facebook group called Fund for Global Education. We are a group dedicated to learning about and embracing other cultures. The goal of this group is to raise awareness and money for The Fund for Global Education to sponsor children who could not otherwise afford to go on an international program, such as Global Leadership Adventure.
Hopefully, with the help and generosity of the group’s members, we can sponsor deserving students on the trip of a lifetime! By donating to this cause you will be helping to inspire the next generation of global leaders.
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.
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.
The Global Leadership Adventures summer program in the Galapagos is focused on learning about the conservation efforts in the Galapagos Island. This archipelago where Darwin formulated his theory of natural selection is a living classroom and one of the most unique places on earth.
However, its fame is also bringing massive tourism and foreign currency and is creating an economic boom attracting migrants from the mainland. This is putting development up against conservation.
Continuing on the thread of being a global citizen during the year (and not just on an international summer program)… there are a few great organizations that offer high school students a structured program to make a difference on key global issues. In most cases, the organization supports student clubs with materials, training, trips and resources to help raise awareness and funds to support international causes.
New Global Citizens has been a partner of Global Leadership Adventures for a few years. They are a great organization that helps students set up clubs in their school and even sends a representative to your school to help train the team. Each club picks an international NGO that they’ll support over the course of the year.
Global Citizen Corps is a project of Mercy Corps. They also have resources for high school clubs. But what’s really cool is their year-long Leadership program that includes a Leadership Summit with a select group of teens to New York and sets up meetings at the UN, with NGOs and teleconferences with other global leaders. This articles tells more.
Amnesty International is probably the best known human rights organization. There are thousands of Amnesty groups on college and high school campuses that engage in letter writing campaigns and petitions to governments to release political prisoners or improve human rights around the world. Register your school group online and you will receive a toolkit to get started. Or, if you’re a 1-person movement, use their great online activist toolkit and get started today.
After a great summer of programming, hundreds of teens volunteering abroad, and thousands of unforgettable memories, it’s now time to return to school. My hope is that the pressures of school, sports and college admissions will not dilute the impact of the student’s summer experiences. In fact, now is the time to begin to really take action.
I have always believed that international volunteer programs like Global Leadership Adventures are really a starting point for young global citizens.
So, I was thrilled to see GLA Tanzania alumnae, Brittney Calzone, featured in an article in the local newspaper in Redding, Connecticut. Brittney started a drive to collect books for the Himo Secondary School that GLA works with in Tanzania. If you read the article, you’ll see that Brittney is trying to figure out how to ship the books to Tanzania – if anyone can help, please contact us and we’ll connect you with Brittney.
In the coming weeks, I will continue to post stories about students who are staying involved in global issues and new opportunities that exist for teens right in their own backyard!
