Day 7: CAP day 1
Student Trip Blog
Greetings families, friends, and hopefully fellow glimpsers,
This is Nathan Lin, one of the two leaders of the day. Like everyone in this cohort, I am from the Bay Area, specifically Abraham Lincoln High School in San Francisco.
Today, as the title implies, today was a time for us to reflect on the trip as a whole. Starting in the morning, and even the night before, we began to think about what this trip meant to us and how we had grown from it. In the previous posts, you may have heard about the lesson we learned from each guest speaker, and what we had learned from them on the day of, but in this post, I want to reiterate all that we have learned.
Starting in the airport, we were all open to learn about Panama as well as each other, and because of that we were able to bond immediately. Groups were formed since day one that persist to day 10. As we began our final reflection, we thought about the most memorable moments and the moments that helped us grow the most. I believe that the two main lessons everyone took away was to get back up, no matter the situation, Orlando reminded us to dust our knees off, look forward, and move on. The second lesson was from Mujeres Amigas del Manglar, to not be afraid to get down and dirty to clean the earth, because as dirty as we get, we can always clean ourselves off, but that is a luxury only afforded to us, but not the earth, so we must take care of it. Later on, we made anonymous compliments to each of our fellow glimpsers either through touching their shoulder or writing it down. We then continued with sharing the improvements of the group as a whole, and all the growth we have made. Even as I was leading this activity, I could feel that each person sharing, opened up a vulnerable side to them, and each person respected that. We, as a group, shared how we impacted, changed, and led each person to grow. Finally, we concluded with a pledge to ourselves. A final declaration of growth. A pledge to start doing something, stop doing something, and continue doing something. These pledges were made in front of the group, and I hope that if any of my fellow glimpsers are reading this, uphold these pledges not only out of respect for yourself, but also for this who bore witness to your grow on this journey.
I just want to one last time thank all the families and glimpsers who took a risk and allowed me to have this amazing trip, as well as Global Glimpse for making this possible, and allowing for the experience of a lifetime. Thank you, Mikayla, for being a great leader of the day with me, my mom who thought I would get kidnapped, this did NOT happen. I would also like to thank everyone from Mr. Manzo to Ms. Elisabeth, as well as Larry and Nadine for making this an open space where everyone got to have fun. Thank you!
– Nathan Lin
Hi everyone! This is Mikayla, the second of the two leaders of the day! I am also from the Bay Area, but attend Lowell High School in San Francisco.
The theme for Day 10 was Final Reflection, and the main highlight was a three-hour long seminar spent reflecting on what we have learned throughout this trip and sharing how we hope the trip will impact those around us. We started off by drawing a map of five of the most significant moments on this trip, lessons we have learned about ourselves and our leadership styles, and finally, the people who have inspired us the most on this trip. Volunteers then shared out their drawings, explaining in detail what each moment meant to them. Hearing the impact that even the smallest of moments had on each Glimpser was not only incredibly touching but inspired me to work hard to continue to spread the impact of this experience to the communities we will soon return too.
Another moment of reflection that stood out was when the Glimpsers, GGLs, and PCs all had the chance to write their Big Loves out to specific people. Although we had less than a minute to express our appreciation for each person, it was clear that each short message left a lasting impact. Many students continued writing their messages up until the last second, even going over time, because they had so many amazing things to say about each other. Their eagerness to express love and appreciation to one another truly shows just how much our cohort has bonded in this short period of time. As a cohort we have all seen each other grow as leaders so much, forming lasting connections that we hope to foster long after our trip has concluded.
Thank you to everyone that I have met on this trip, you have all been so warm and welcoming and have truly inspired me to be a better person in every aspect. Special thank you to Nathan for being an awesome leader of the day partner, being a leader was super easy with you. I want to end my blog by giving a quick shoutout to my friends and family back at home! As fun and exciting as this trip has been, I have really missed you all and I can’t wait to come back home and tell you all about this amazing trip!!
– Mikayla Liu
