Return home <3

From our last LDD (Leader of the Day) Chelsi, as Angelica already made it home: This trip really brought all of us Glimpsers, GGL’s (Global Glimpse Leaders) and PC’s (Program Coordinators) together and was such a sweet and amazing experience for all of us. Thank you to everyone who helped us go on this trip and everyone involved. Big Love to the GG (Global Glimpse) Panamá trip 2026 final delegation. <33

To Our Glimpsers: One Last Note From Your Leaders 💗🇵🇦

And just like that, our 11 days together have come to an end.

We have a lot of words we could use to describe this journey. Courageous/Challenging. Beautiful. Exhausting. Hilarious. Unexpected. Chaotic. Transformative. But perhaps the simplest one is unforgettable.

Steph and I came into this trip knowing we had a responsibility to you. We were here to keep you safe, to guide you, to challenge you, to teach you, and to help you experience a part of the world, a type of journey, that many of you had never tried before.

But somewhere along the way, something else happened.

We fell in love with you. (Agape)

We watched you wake up way too early, dance when you thought nobody was watching, try foods that were completely unfamiliar, navigate friendships, get frustrated, laugh until your stomachs hurt, miss home, make mistakes, apologize, try again, and discover things about yourselves that you didn’t know were there.

There were moments when this trip was hard. Really hard. For you. For us. There were days when we were tired, overwhelmed, uncomfortable, and ready for our own beds. But there were also moments that reminded us exactly why experiences like this matter.

The little moments.

That DJ/music moment. The inside jokes, well, yes. The community. The meals. The late-night conversations (shoutout to our tea time baddies). The unexpected connections. The performances. The greenhouse. The people who welcomed us into their homes. The moments you looked around and realized, “Wow. I’m actually here.”

Those are the moments we hope you remember.

As our girl Brené Brown says, “Choose courage over comfort.”

You did that.

You chose to leave your ohana, your routines, and everything familiar and step into something completely new. Sometimes you chose courage willingly. Sometimes we had to encourage you toward it. And sometimes courage probably felt like simply getting through the day.

But you did it.

There is another quote from the Peace Corps that we kept thinking about throughout this journey:

“You may never fully rest in the shade of the trees you plant.”

You planted some trees here.

Maybe you won’t see exactly how they grow. Maybe you won’t know whose life you touched or what someone remembers about you years from now. But your presence mattered. The work you did mattered. The relationships you built mattered.

And we hope you take that lesson home with you.

Because your impact isn’t always something you get to see.

We also want you to remember:

“Heavy is the head that wears the crown, but weak is the back that cannot carry it.”

You are becoming adults. You’re beautiful cocoons turning into turquoise, turtle saving, capybara butterflies.

That means life is going to ask more of you. You’ll have responsibilities. You’ll make difficult decisions. You’ll sometimes have to carry things that feel heavy.

But we hope these 11 days reminded you that you’re capable of carrying more than you think.

And we hope you also learned that being strong doesn’t mean doing everything alone.

Lean on each other. This delegation can last a lifetime, if you all put the work in.

Which brings us to perhaps our biggest wish for you.

Be as present with your senior year, as you were with this voyage. Cultivate at least one friendship you made on this trip, may it last a lifetime—and maybe even longer.

We hope years from now, you see one of these people and immediately remember Panama. We hope “Cotton Eye Joe” or “Macarena” plays and your instantly jump up together. Something difficult happens, and you all start laughing. We hope one day you’ll look into each other eyes, as they say the windows to our soul, and suddenly you’re all teenagers in Las Tablas again.

We hope you keep finding yourselves.

Because someday, this trip will become a story you tell.

“Remember when we went to Panama?”

And you’ll roll out the pictures. (Gavi don’t forget to share with the group including us.)

You’ll remember the people. Comunidad!

You’ll remember the ridiculous seconds.

You’ll remember the hard times.

And maybe you’ll realize just how much you grew.

We want you to know something that we may not have said enough during the chaos of these 11 days:

We are so grateful we got to know you.

We are grateful we got to see you—not just as Glimpsers, but as people.

We saw your kindness. Your weirdness! Your humor. Your sass. Your vulnerability. Your courage. Your compassion. Your personalities. Your potential.

We saw you.

And we hope you felt seen.

The tender love and care that we poured into you these 11 days was real. We cared about whether you ate. Whether you slept. Whether you were homesick. Whether you were getting along with your friends. Whether you were happy. Whether you felt safe. Whether you were becoming the person you wanted to be. Because beauty isn’t something you can rank… it’s something that’s found on the inside.

We cared because you mattered to us.

And even though our role as your Global Glimpse Leaders officially ends here, our care for you doesn’t have to.

If you ever need advice, encouragement, a reminder that you’re capable of something difficult, or simply someone to tell you that you’re doing okay, we’re here.

As we’ve told you, your now a Glimpser for life. This is all part of your legacy, I encourage you once again to join the alumni program. It’s (pun intended) just a glimpse, there’s more out there whether you go to Provincetown, MA or northern Thailand. Watch whales breach together, avoid stepping on some iguanas.

You don’t have to be perfect.

You don’t have to have everything figured out.

Just keep going.

Pay it forward.

Keep planting trees whose shade you may never sit beneath.

Keep carrying what you’re capable of carrying—and remember when it’s time to ask someone else to help carry it.

And please, please don’t forget Panama. For some of you, your very first. Part of your heart now lives there inviolate.

Don’t forget the people who welcomed us.

Don’t forget the communities you served.

Don’t forget to hold your passport dear, and know that you are capable of going anywhere. Impossible is literally just saying, I’m possible.

Aloha.

With all our heart, pride, gratitude, and probably a few more tears,

Steph & Alx ❤️🇵🇦

Your Global Glimpse Leaders, always.

PS. RIP Barbie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!