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You’re Going to Cambodia! How Does it Feel? — Part 1
As many of you know, Global Explorers was awarded the fortunate opportunity to allow thirty students the chance of a lifetime to travel to Cambodia this June thanks to funding from the U.S. Department of State. A whopping 298 incredible students applied from across the nation in hopes that they would be able to take part in this immersive adventure. After months of preparation, application madness, lengthy interviews and the grueling process of having to choose a limited number of participants, Jordy was finally ready to inform the lucky thirty students that they had been selected to take part in the American Youth Leadership Program. As you can imagine, the student’s elation was overwhelming!
To launch our first series of student blogs, Jordy offered the AYLP team the chance to write an entry, if they so desired. The question – a seemingly simple one: What does it feel like to be chosen to participate in the American Youth Leadership Program to Cambodia? The response – some exceedingly vivid descriptions that only the happiest of students could have concocted. This week we will be putting up some of the entries we received – here are two of them:
Irrepressible elation rushed through my entire being. I struggled to stifle my cries of delight when those few words, those momentous words, were exchanged on the phone. For the past month, I had wrung my hands with anticipation, deprived myself from the indulgent thought that I, in four months, could be gazing at the crystalline waters of Tonle Sap Lake, or kneeling on the ancient, earthen floors of Angkor Wat. I had tucked those thoughts away in the farthest reaches of my imagination, like a hidden box of the tastiest chocolates stored on the top-most shelf. But now, I was free to devour those dreams. I was as free as a bird soaring over the Cardamom Mountains, which, to my pleasant disbelief, I realized we would be visiting. This triumph I felt was unlike any that I had ever known. It was a victory shared by the 30 of us that were selected, a knowledge that we would not only gain so much from sharing our experiences with one another, but find that the seemingly different world that we would soon live in could be more connected to us than we could ever imagine. No longer would I doubt my potential, for I knew that someone saw something indispensable in me. And for them to have believed in me so strongly that I, out of so many others, had been chosen, assured me that I could contribute to a victory of a lifetime.
- Soumya Kandukuri, AYLP Team Member
All day in school, I felt anxious. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the clock as I counted down the hours until I could come home and check for the biggest email of my life! Finally, the time came and I raced to my computer to find out the news! To my shock, I found no email from AYLP. But then, I heard the quiet beeping from my voice-mail on our home phone. I pushed play, and my heart was thumping out of my chest as I heard Jordy’s voice on the machine. I was holding my breath until I heard one word: “Congratulations!” Tingling sensations shot all throughout my body and a smile stretched across my face! I threw my arms up and jumped wildly into the air, unsure of what to do with myself! I looked around at my parents. They too were beaming right back at me. Excitement had taken over my body to the point where I could not be stagnant. I had done it! Words cannot describe the feeling that comes after you achieve such an honor for something you worked so hard for! That was the moment where I knew that something miraculous happened. That was the moment where I realized the immensity of this opportunity that lay before me. Now it was my time to get out and explore and see the world from a whole new perspective.
- Austin Jolly, AYLP Team Member
