But some colleges question motives. By Alison Lobron When Becky McDougal, 17 traveled to Guadeloupe last summer to build homes for impoverished families, most of her inspiration came from the desire to help others, but some of it came in the mail. During her sophomore...
On our last trip to Mississippi in March we stayed in Bay St. Louis, about 25 miles west of Gulfport, in a West Indies-style former school house (circa 1913). The owner, Ellis Anderson—formerly a 20-year resident of the French Quarter—transformed the school into a...
Community Service for Service Sake With the teen summer programs abroad just around the corner and another season of VISIONS nearly here, we are acutely aware of all the details that go into each program. With so many practical logistics filling our minds, it is...
The Sanford Family – Napolean, Clarencia, Claudia, Mauricia, Provin, and Suzan The Sanford family has been a constant source of support and friendship on our Dominica teenage volunteer program abroad in the Carib Territory since our first summer in 1996. The Sanford’s...
Hello, VISIONS alumni! Many of you have stayed in contact over the years with us and with your trip mates. Some of you even have returned to VISIONS to work as staffers. We love hearing what you are up to, what you have been doing since your summers with us, and in...
In the last 12 months, Mother Nature has made the world pay attention to and respect her power. While the work accomplished by VISIONS participants is substantial, rarely does it occur in such a dramatic context as last July in the Dominican Republic. VISIONS’s...
We know that VISIONS participants are special. After all, they choose to spend their summers in service to others. Although, certainly a change of scenery to a gorgeous, exotic location helps, too! On the heels of each season, inevitably we learn just how special...
By Stacy Bodow, VISIONS Program Director There is something about the high I feel on the heels of each VISIONS summer program abroad that keeps me coming back. It is more than just the wonderful memories I have of the teen travel programs and the work, the people and...
There are summer camps—and then there are summer experiences. Is your kid ready for a skill-expanding adventure? By Erika Rasmusson Janes Mention the word “camp” and most parents have images of canoe rides and singing “Kumbaya” around the campfire. Those...
It’s almost cliché to say that most of what constitutes hard news these days is depressing and disheartening (or inanely celebrity-focused, in this writer’s opinion). The economic, health, political, environmental issues around the globe taken together can feel...
She is an elegant woman, calm and composed, soft-spoken and thoughtful. When she smiles, her strong wide face lights up, she laughs easily, and her eyes twinkle. Since our first summer on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation, Florence Running Wolf and her husband, Mike,...
2004 alumnus, Victoria Hynes, organizes a book drive to stock the new library at Cheyenne Children Services The ultimate testament to any endeavor is the long-term impact it has on people’s lives. Time and again, our alumni return home from a teen summer program so...
