A 12-week leadership experience, delivered virtually, that equips students worldwide with the skills and network for a lifetime of social impact. At 4 hours per week, the Academy empowers students to define their purpose and drive meaningful change in their communities and the world.
A deep, 8-month immersion where students live alongside the global majority in Brazil, Ecuador or India and develop the insights, skills, and network to become the leaders our world needs. Fellows build language fluency, develop resilience, and become part of a community a world away from home.
2011-09-07
Why yes, I am writing this blog post from beneath my mosquito net. I currently have 25 bug bites (just south of my knees), two dead (massive) cockroaches in my trashcan, and a spider named Toubab that has moved in to my almost-unpacked suitcase. Despite my severe disliking of bugs in general (especially bugs...
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2011-10-05
My mom handed me a bologna sandwich for dinner tonight. I studied it for a few minutes and started to laugh – an honest to goodness, full-blown, something-must-be-really-funny laugh. I don’t know exactly why I started laughing, but I know it felt great and luckily for me my only witness was Issa, my five year...
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2011-11-03
I’m sitting in the courtyard at my grandmother’s house on a brightly patterned woven mat on the ground. The sun is no longer beating directly overhead and the shade beneath the huge tree provides a cool comfort perfect for napping. Eight beautiful women surround me – each wrapped in vivid Senegalese cloth, laughing, singing, and...
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2011-12-15
Global Citizen Year provides Fellows with complete, succinct and crucial preparation prior to placing us in the field. Upon arrival in Senegal I felt well equipped to handle the inevitable culture shock – I was ready to face my immersion with an open mind and a compassionate heart, and with no expectations. However, nothing...
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2012-02-09
About a month ago I was with my mom and my sister heading home from the market in Rufisque, a town 25 minutes from my village of Sebikotane. It was a balmy evening, around 8pm – the sky was clear and the stars were bright. We were returning after a successful afternoon of shopping with...
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2012-03-14
My (American) mom is rather sentimental. One might even say she is the definition of sentimentality. Just two days before my departure my parents presented me with a going away gift – a beautiful book titled “Love Letters to Senegal.” My mom had compiled 33 letters from my loved ones – family members, “honorary” family...
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2012-05-22
Tomorrow marks the 1 month anniversary of being “back home.” These past 4 weeks have been a whirlwind of old experiences that feel brand new — such as a grilled cheese sandwich or traffic laws — things that used to be normal, things I haven’t seen, felt, done, tasted, heard in 8 months that are...
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In January of 2011 my mom suggested out of the blue that I consider applying to a gap year program. With college applications so recently finished and my second semester starting out as lazy and carefree as I was always promised, I had no desire to start filling out yet another application, especially for a...
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