Community Corner
BETHESDA TEEN DOES SERVICE PROJECT IN GUATEMALA
It is very easy to paint young people with a broad brush. And some are painting the millennial generation as selfish, self-involved and unaware of the world.
Then you meet kids like Allie Peck.
A Junior from Walt Whitman High School, Allie just returned from a three-week service program in Guatemala where she joined a team in a town called Santa Clara La Laguna who constructed a community center working to rebuild a foundation and prepare the building to receive new columns.
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Allie is one of several hundred students across the country participating in a new summer program called Walking Tree Travel. It is more than an exchange program. Participants go to one of 15 countries throughout five continents to work on projects such as building schools, installing water systems, or saving sea turtles, all while building lasting bonds with communities.
“At Walking Tree Travel, we offer students the opportunity to widen their world view”, according to Paul Laurie, director of Walking Tree Travel. “We hope that our participants bring their experiences home and start a dialogue with other young people to better appreciate the world which we all share.”
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And Allie is doing just that.