Beckford, a senior at Mount Vernon High School, and the others performed community service at La Piedra, a summer camp, where they served youths in some of the country’s most impoverished communities. The opportunity allowed the students to interact with fellow teens, learn the merengue and surfing and other activities of the locals, and visit the national library and aquarium.
“The Leadership Academy changed my life,” Beckford said. “I learned so much about Dominican culture and discovered parts of myself I didn’t know existed.”
CIEE, based in Portland, Maine, offers various High School Summer Abroad programs that help students experience service, along with other cultures and languages, including China, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan and Spain.
The organization’s mission statement is “to help people gain understanding, acquire knowledge and develop skills for living in a globally interdependent and culturally diverse world." For more information, visit the website at www.ciee.org/high-school-study-abroad.
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