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An Education Down Under
Bay Area students travel to Australia as U.S. ambassadors
By Melissa Matchak
This summer, 40 Bay Area students will have the opportunity to experience firsthand the inspiration behind the popular Disneyland ride, It's a Small World, as they travel to Australia as ambassadors with People to People International.
The trip to Australia, however, focuses on the educational aspects of visiting a foreign country. The People to People program was created in 1956, by the late Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower, with the goal of promoting cultural understanding and peace. The nonprofit organization provides students in grades six through 12 the opportunity to have personal contact and share experiences with people of other countries, religions and backgrounds, in an effort to develop tolerance and understanding of the many different cultures existing in the world.
This positive movement to promote tolerance and peace inspired Walt Disney, who attended the initial meeting, to create It's a Small World. Disney, along with Hallmark Cards founder Joyce C. Hall, was a major contributor to help Eisenhower implement the People to People program.
Vanessa Hooke, a student at Willow Glen Middle School and a Willow Glen resident, is one of the students participating in the program this summer. On July 5, she will leave for three weeks in Australia, where she will learn about the culture and customs of the Australian people. With the group, she will visit such places as the Great Barrier Reef and museums that focus on the history of Australia and the Australian aborigines.
As part of the program, Hooke and the other students will stay for four days with a host family. Hooke said this is the part of trip to which she most looks forward.
"I'm excited about the home stay, learning about their education and what they do for fun," Hooke said.
Hooke and the other students will not only learn about daily life in Australia through the home stay, but will share with their host families what life is like in the United States and in the Bay Area. As ambassadors, the students are required to set a good example of youth in the Bay Area.
Hooke said she was nominated for the program by an anonymous teacher, or administrator, and received a letter about the program. She later attended a meeting for all nominees and an interview in which she was asked questions pertaining to the program, and how she would react to immersion in another culture so far from home.
"I think it's going to be a really fun experience," Hooke said. "It's the journey and opportunity of a lifetime, to go across the world and learn about another culture."
The People to People program is now in its 45th year, and will send approximately 15,000 students this summer to countries including Europe, the South Pacific, South Africa, the Middle East and China. There are more than 200 chapters in the United States, Europe and Asia. For more information about People to People International, go to www.ptpi.org.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
