Caroline and Stella's Study Abroad Experience
Caroline and Stella at the “Top of the Rock”, the observatory on top of Rockefeller Center in New York City.
Each fall two SEGA students are selected through a competitive application process to participate in the 5-week cultural exchange we call our Study Abroad Program.
This year for the first time the two visiting SEGA students, Stella and Caroline, headed to Madison, Wisconsin for the first two weeks of their US adventure to stay with two amazing host families and study English at the Wisconsin English as a Second Language Institute (WESLI). Several years ago students at a public High School there started a club to support SEGA called “MEGA for SEGA”. A group of MEGA (Madison Empowering Girls’ Advancement) kids traveled to SEGA in June, 2018 and upon their return asked if they could host the next study abroad students. Despite the unusually early winter and cold temperatures in Madison this year (it snowed several times while the girls were there) Stella and Caroline were embraced by the warm community and made lots of new friends!
After two weeks immersed in life in Madison Stella and Caroline joined me on a whole new adventure, traveling to New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Westport, CT and Hebron, CT, Boston and Portsmouth, NH, becoming ambassadors for SEGA, sharing their stories, meeting supporters and seeing the many sites that the United States has to offer. So many people kindly opened their homes to us, hosting gatherings and helping to raise needed funds and awareness to support scholarships for girls like Stella and Caroline, who come from poor backgrounds, to attain a high quality, holistic education.
Presenting at Saugatuck Elementary School in Westport Connecticut.
We were also welcomed by many school kids in MA, CT, DC and NH where the girls gave talks but also had the opportunity to visit and attend classes at Portsmouth High, another SEGA school partner that has had two groups visit SEGA over the past two years and will have another group go in July, 2020. The girls also had a chance to shadow a student starting a new club at Walnut Hill, a private art school in Natick, MA.
Like many SEGA students, Stella and Caroline are the first in their families to attend high school. They both shared their love of science including physics, chemistry and math and their big dreams. Stella wants to be a doctor, specifically a gynecologist, to try to tackle the tragically high numbers of women dying in childbirth in her community in the Dodomo region. Caroline wants to be a Petroleum Engineer, inspired by SEGA’s career counseling program whereby guest speakers come in to talk to the students. She shared that men discourage girls and women from careers like engineering because of its focus on math. Given her love of math she felt she could be a great engineer and aims to prove to her community and society that women can be and do anything.
Caroline and Stella impressed me in so many ways from their strong English skills, despite having just learned English a couple of years ago, to their openness in engaging and talking with people, and their eagerness to learn new things and try everything and anything they heard about including Sushi! They both have a true sense of adventure and eagerness to become leaders and have an impact on their communities and country. Based on my time with them I have no doubt they will succeed.
- Blog written by Laura DeDominicis, Executive Director, Nurturing Minds
More photos from Caroline and Stella’s Study Abroad experience:
