Transforming the World from the Inside-Out: Student Reflections on the Ripples of Change
We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.” ― Howard Zinn
Participating in the process of change is key to World Leadership School (WLS) programs. Through long-term sustainable partnerships, Community Projects and collaborative learning, students and educators contribute to transforming the world one program at a time.
These small acts represent ripples of change, but how do we measure this transformation? Erin Hawk (WLS Director of Operations) addressed how we assess community needs and how we continuously challenge ourselves to stay intentional and community-centered, while empowering young leaders, in her recent blog, “Listening, Learning, Collaborating: The Roadmap to Building Partnerships.” She outlines the differences between the voluntourism industry’s one-time trips and WLS’s long-term sister school partnerships. A new documentary on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Volunteers Unleashed, highlighted many of the same pitfalls and concerns mentioned in our blog, but was pulled before it had the chance to air nationally. Pulling the documentary off the network suggests that North American society lacks a willingness to question the old notion of charity and “helping;” but by challenging these outdated notions, we engage in critical dialogue that is necessary to change worn out paradigms. We are committed to avoid the harmful consequences of voluntourism and have found that listening to the community, as well as the students, has allowed us to foster sustainable and meaningful relationships that drive change. By listening, we can begin assessing the process of change taking place in communities and within young leaders.
Over the course of the past eight years that WLS has been facilitating Collaborative Leadership Programs, we have heard from many students and alumni regarding their experiences and the impact cross-cultural partnerships have had on their lives. Luci, a WLS alumna from our first program in Costa Rica, shared the following:
“My WLS experience ignited a passion for working in countries abroad and with children from low socioeconomic backgrounds. I am currently studying to be a teacher and I plan to work with children from similar backgrounds. My favorite memory from the WLS program was my home-stay experience. I lived with an amazing family on a farm, with whom I still keep in contact, six years later. I know the bond we formed in two weeks will undoubtedly last a lifetime.”
Another student, who recently returned from Peru, shared his transformation first-hand:
“While I may have had a few moments more to consider what I thought about life and existence as a whole, you should be confident in knowing there is a changed individual returning to the United States.
We are not the smartest people to ever live nor the most insightful. We are not the strongest nor the fastest. We are not the happiest nor the most gracious. Instead, we are human beings who are trying to progress to these states of being. We are teenagers ready to take on the world, solve its problems, and evaluate its state of being. We may not tell you how we have changed. We may feel afraid…. We have changed, though. We have come back with individual goals that challenge our comfort zone…”
Although these changes are more abstract than numbers and data, the voices of the students and the career paths they choose demonstrate their active participation and dedication as a result of their WLS experiences. As noted in their reflections, an internal change takes place, along with a commitment to better themselves and the communities around them. The transformation students experience stretches far beyond one Community Project or volunteering for a week or two; it is the by-product of the intentional relationships they formed in the community and students beginning to reflect on their place in the world. Students and communities sharing life experiences and reciprocal, long-lasting partnerships make up the small ripples of change that ultimately transform the world.
— Maria Selde, Program Coordinator
