The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Steamboat Springs — Just a few weeks ago, 17-year-old Daniel Wright found himself in Senegal, surrounded by government officials and soldiers carrying automatic weapons.

Devin Wilkinson herded goats with a nomadic family in Mongolia, while Kaeli Nolte attended a traditional wedding filled with song and dance in Swaziland, a southern Africa country about the size of New Jersey.

The three joined 55 other Lowell Whiteman School students in recent trips overseas as part of the private school’s annual cultural exchange program. The students split into groups that each spent nearly a month, from about mid-April to early May, in one of five locations: Senegal, Mongolia, Swaziland, Argentina and India. Margi Missling-Root, Lowell Whiteman’s director of experiential education, stressed that the trips were not tourism but rather service-oriented visits that often included stays with local families, “hard travel” and rough conditions.

Wright experienced rough conditions on his trip, but not because of soldiers.

Wright said despite the intimidating appearance, the weapons carried by Senegalese soldiers were anything but signs of hostility — rather, they were part of an ongoing welcome from a nation that embraced the visit from American students.

“We kind of had a mob of people following us everywhere we went,” Wright said. “They considered us coming there a major step in making Senegal a better place.”

Wright, along with 10 other students and two adult leaders, did his part to make Senegal just that. While staying in the village of Marsassoum in the nation’s Casamance region, he and his group built 20 desks for a primary school.

The school had about 300 students packed into its three rooms, Wright said. The desks got immediate use.

While traveling around the country from the group’s base in the city of Zinguinchor, Wright said, his knowledge of French helped him communicate with people who played soccer nearly everywhere, ate mostly rice and fish, lived primarily in mud huts with thatched roofs — even Zinguinchor had no two-story buildings, Wright said — had little electricity or running water but sometimes carried cell phones and constantly asked him if he, his family and his country were “at peace.”

“They really had no idea what America is like,” Wright said of the people he met. “They had no stereotypes formed.”

Wright now has a fond stereotype of the Senegalese.

“The people were so nice — I grew so attached to the country, I can’t even explain it,” Wright said. “When I left the country I was really sad.”

Wilkinson and Nolte, both 16, described similar affinities for the people they met.

Wilkinson said wherever she traveled in Mongolia — whether doing service work at a monastery, feeding baby goats or enjoying festive music — she felt incredibly welcomed.

“They were so happy to have you there,” she said, before mentioning one challenge encountered in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. “The traffic was crazy — they had, like, three stoplights.”

Nolte said the traditional wedding she attended in Swaziland included four hours of singing and dancing by huge extended families wearing colorful, flowing clothing.

“They’ve really, really preserved their culture,” Nolte said. “It’s incredible to watch.”

Missling-Root said such ex­­periences are invaluable for students.

“We really believe in the merits of the foreign-travel program,” Missling-Root said. “It’s the old adage that travel creates a broader perspective … (students) creating their own ideas of what the world is like, and how they might fit into it, is critical.”

The trips are a boon for the adults, as well.

“Watching (teenagers) opening themselves up … it’s an educator’s dream,” Missling-Root said. “They open their hearts and their minds.”