September 6, 2006

Campbell students walk a mile in Australian’s kids’ shoes

By Julie Davis Berry
Executive Editor

It is said that the best way to understand people is to walk a while in their shoes. Over summer break, 30 Bay Area pre-teens crossed the International Dateline to do just that.

Students George Sakkas and Cole Brady explore the Great Barrier Reef.

Theirs was an adventure nearly a year in the making, one that took them across the world to the land down under, where first-hand lessons in life on a farm, native rituals, hikes into the rain forest, snuggling with koalas and crocodiles, snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef—even school dress codes came with a healthy dose of reality—packing their own bags, washing their own laundry, taking their own pictures, exchanging their own currency and yes, the biggest lesson of all, budgeting.

They were the latest contingent of student ambassadors selected to represent their communities and their country through a program started in 1956 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as a way to increase cultural awareness around the globe. He believed that ordinary citizens of different nations, if able to communicate directly, would be more likely to solve their differences and find a way to live in peace. He then put those beliefs into action and created People to People Ambassador Programs.

The 30 lucky students chosen to serve as People to People Ambassadors in Australia included Campbell’s Stephanie Stapleton (Rolling Hills Middle School), Marina Jurema (Campbell Middle School) and Andrea Meza-Flores, (Campbell Middle School).

In the 50 years since it began, eight U.S. presidents have followed in Eisenhower’s footsteps and served as honorary chairman of People to People International, including John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford. Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush while student delegations journeyed to 34 countries on every continent around the world.

The 30 lucky students included Campbell’s Stephanie Stapleton (Rolling Hills Middle School), Marina Jurema (Campbell Middle School) and Andrea Meza-Flores, (Campbell Middle School). They returned home with memories that will last a lifetime such as digging for Thunder Eggs, learning to throw and actually catch boomerangs, playing aborigine didgeridoos, visiting native classrooms, hopping with kangaroos, cradling crocodiles and cuddling koala bears.

Andrea Meza-Flores had a hard time deciding which was the best part of her trip. “I can't make up my mind because there were a lot of activities, and it’s hard for me to pick only one. For example, I liked the "whipping" that we did at the farmstay, taking pictures of the Great Barrier Reef, fossiling and playing the didgeridoo.”

Flores says goodbye to her mother Lilian before the trip.

She said that the school and kids in Australia are similar to the schools and kids in the United States but that the only difference is that there are some sports they play that American kids don’t. “Visiting taught me more about the cultures and the people in Australia than reading about it.”

All of the students were nominated either by their teachers, principals or by community leaders. Before embarking on the Student Ambassador Program, the 11- and 12-year-old boys and girls, along with family members attended a series of orientation meetings designed to teach them about the history and culture of the Australian people, as well as important details surrounding the overseas experience—a trip that for most would be their first solo adventure.

All in all it was a great trip for the students and left them with many vivid memories of life down under. “I thought it was funny that the kids had to wear uniforms,” exclaimed student George Sakkas, “but they didn't have to wear shoes!”