A Change in Perspective
A Life Changing Experience for SEGA & Agnes Irwin Students
Earlier in June a group of Agnes Irwin students from outside Philadelphia spent a week at SEGA. It was an amazing week for both SEGA and AIS students – learning, growing, laughing and changing together. Below are two excepts from thoughtful and beautifully articulated essays written by Agnes Irwin students reflecting on their time at SEGA. Enjoy.
“One with little knowledge about what took place during the [our trip to] Tanzania would have thought that it was a service trip where we traveled to Tanzania in order to aid someone in need or to educate them. In my opinion this trip was the opposite of this, for I feel as if I was the one being helped and educated mentally.” – AIS Student A
“During our [Tanzanian] adventure, I not only discovered a part of the world I had never seen, but also a part of myself. Self-discovery always seemed so cliché to me, but when it actually happens to you, it feels like something you want to bottle up and sell to everyone you know. While it is great to feel yourself changing, it does not make things clearer. At least in my case, I feel like everything is becoming blurrier. Before, my life seemed so definite and I knew the path I wanted to go down, but now I am stuck at a fork in the road. Being in Tanzania, specifically Sega, has made me realize that I am so incredibly lucky to live where I live and, more importantly, to learn where I learn. I want to bring these opportunities to others.
This makes everything extremely complicated. I feel lucky to have had this revelation, but now there is no clear-cut road for which I want to follow. I have longstanding dreams for myself, but I’m at a point where I have to ask myself if that will be satisfying enough? I can no longer eat a meal without thinking of the girls at Sega and how shocked they would be to see so much food go to waste. I can no longer use my iPhone without remembering how much easier it is to be without it. I can no longer open my packed drawer of clothes without thinking of the girls who would where a shirt 4 days in a row. I can no longer think of myself. My [trip to] Tanzania has opened my eyes to the possibility of a future career in education: a rewarding career I never thought fitting until now.” – AIS Student B