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Winchester Students Travel to Ecuador for Service, Adventure and More

WHS students traveled to South America commiting to community service, connecting with people there and with each other.

Although trekking in Ecuador sounds like an exotic adventure on the travel channel it was the real life experience of 16 students from July 1-23.

As members of the school-based group Connect and Commit, students traveled with their advisor Kristen Ritchie through arrangments made by World Challenge Expeditions, a Boston branch of a United Kingdom agency.

"The program is entering its fourth year," explained Ritchie. "My position as program coordinator is funded through the private non-profit organization, the Winchester Community Service Foundatation."

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"In part, my role is to work with teachers helping them to integrate community service into the curriculum," said Ritchie. "The summer program was a new dimension-our first trip abroad. It was total cultural immersion for our students and on-site community service."

At the presentation of their travel experience held on the evening of Sept. 21 in the WHS library students recalled the many vivid aspects of their three weeks in a foreign land.

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Climatization

Because the capital city, Quito lies on the equator, students had to navigate the different gravitational pull. They made some scientific observations of the effects of their equatorial position on matter and movement.

At times they had to adjust to the snow and hail they found climbing up Cotopaxi, the world's tallest vulcano. At the volcano's summit is the Quilotoa Crater Lake-a large body of water sitting on what seems to be the top of the world.

There was a jungle trek in tropical weather conditions that introduced unusual plants and animals in an unfamiliar terrain.   

The service phase

For their service project the srudents helped make repairs to a village school. They patched the interior rooms, gave the walls a new coat of paint, and paid a plumber from the funding grant to make important improvements.

A few themes emerged from the students' remarks as they were asked by Ritchie to comment on what was memorable and what they gained.

Student learning

Students taking Spanish were happy to be using the langauge with native speakers every day.

"It gave me a confidence in using the language I didn't have before I went," said Tori Castro.

 Other themes also emmerged.

"Seeing the Amazon, the incredible beauty of everyplace we went is unforgetable," said junior Chloe Georgaklis.

"The scenery was like nothing we'd ever seen before or imagined," agreed Rachel Gaufberg. "Noticing how the air smelled different and how amazing you felt was part of it."

Some students kept a food journal among other personal activities. Students remarked on the variety and freshness of fruits and vegetables and meats such as beef and chicken.

"When you ate a hamburger you felt good. Your stomach felt good. Everything was healthy and healing," said Gaufberg.

"Something a lot of us said to ourselves every day was, 'Keep an open mind. Let it all sink in. Pause. Take it in. Don't sleep on the bus. You'll miss it,'" smiled Gaufberg.

Sam Kellogg was one of many students who gained something through his connection with the villagers they worked among.

"One of our sevice projects was to restore a garden," recounted Kellogg. "As we finished we added peace signs. With some of the yellow paint we made handprints on the rocks in the garden. One of the village boys said to me, 'Look. Our hands are the same.' It was a great feeling to connect like that."

"We befriended the people and they responded," said Jack Grassey. "Seeing the smiles on the faces of the children was the best."

Group connections, shared leadership

The students were still caught up in the excitement of their group adventure noting that they all became friends through shared experience and interdependence.

"I won't forget the white river rafting event," said Mariya Patwa. "The boat flipped and I fell out. I couldn't see well because my contact lenses were gone. I was turing over and didn't know what to do. Then Chloe stuck out the paddle she held for me to grab onto. Then two other girls pulled me into the boat."     

There were reflective times such as the one Georgia Becker recalled.

"At the top of Cotopaxi the guide had us do a rock ceremony," said Becker. "He asked us to dedicate the trip to a loved one who helped us. It was a nice thing to do and very powerful."

"We organized ourselves and had a new sense of independence and confidence," said Sasha DiNitto.

There was an impact on the youthful band of travelers that surpassed their expectations of service and adventure, and their sense of community and place.

"It all became about the people and our trust in them, the mountains and the culture, the lifestyle," said Julia Staffiere You learned to go with the flow because there was a group of us who had to work things out. We rotated leaders and got different ideas from different members," Staffiere explained.

"You gained perspective. You learned about living simpler," she concluded.

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