Jessica, 18 years old, 12th grade, Originally from China, International High School of Prospect Heights

Jessica says “I chose to join this program because I want to offer my help. Go to a country like this and be a volunteer in Batey 8 will be a good opportunity to see different life and different people in poor area. I want to challenge myself, because life there is very hard, and I live away from my family. It’s a chance to be independent. But I have to speak Spanish which is a foreign language that I do not know how to say. Living with a strange family for 6 weeks is also difficult, I have to adjust the food and weather there. Join this program is good for me to go to a good college, because the experience is very unusual and related to my major.”

Jessica continues: “This program is good for my future education because I will choose Sociology or History as my major. This program will be a good chance to let me have real experience to live with different community and learn their culture and customs. I need the experience for going to a good college, and this will definitely help me. I will face many difficulties in this program because we will live with the local family individually for 6 weeks, and the conditions there are very poor. I live away from my family, so I will be more independent. Also I can have a taste of difficult life that poor people have. This will let me treasure my own life in the future, because life in America is so comfortable and convenient.”