People to People Ambassador Program exposes American students to foreign cultures

By Lauren Brown
Burns Times-Herald

How many teenagers from Harney County can boast of traveling to Italy, Austria, Switzerland and France?

The answer is at least two, and they both happen to attend Crane Union High School. Junior Max Miller, the son of Gary and Michelle Miller of Frenchglen, and sophomore Josh Williams, the son of Travis and Linda Williams of Drewsey, were selected to participate in the People to People Ambassador Program last summer.

In 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower founded the People to People program to promote world peace through increased understanding between the citizens of the world. The program allows young Americans to experience other cultures first-hand to foster a greater understanding of the relationships between countries. Student delegates  who participate in the program can then take their experiences and share them with others in their communities back home.

Helen Dean of Boise, Idaho, is a librarian at Frank Church High School and was one of the volunteer leaders on the trip. She enjoyed watching the delegates flourish while abroad. “Max Miller and Josh Williams started out as shy cowboy types and came away from the experience as young men of the world.”

Starting out

The application process for the People to People Ambassador Program is extensive and includes teacher recommendations, an interview and a funding commitment. “All students are nominated by a teacher, minister, friend or family member. Usually it is anonymous,” Dean said. “All students exhibit some form of leadership qualities.” Dean noted that students selected to  participate must also complete an education program designed by People to People and the University of Washington. In addition, before they leave, the students participate in four to six meetings designed around education, preparation for travel and bonding with the volunteer leaders and other student participants. “Students are directed to think about the global prospects for the trip and their state, as well as the U.S.A.,” Dean said. “During the trip, students are encouraged to keep a journal and observe similarities, differences, and attempt to understand from another person’s objective.”

The trip cost each delegate about $6,000. Both Miller and Williams  worked to pay for a portion of the trip and the work was well worth it according to Miller. “It was a once in a lifetime trip,” he said. “If I could, I’d go back.”

Overseas

Along with about 20 other students from Oregon and Idaho, Miller and Williams departed from the Boise airport on June 23 for Rome, Italy. After a stop in Atlanta, Ga., they boarded another plane headed to Rome. It was a nine-hour overnight flight, so jet-lag was a problem upon landing in Rome, which was extremely hot compared to Harney County. Some of the sites they toured there included the Coliseum and Roman Forum, the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Catacombs.

In Italy, they met up with another group of 20 delegates from Illinois, who they would room and travel with for the duration of the trip.

Miller said he liked meeting other students from different parts of the country. It was a diverse cross-section of America, and he learned some interesting facts about the other kids in the group. He found out that his roommate’s uncle actually invented the magnetic resonance imaging process (MRI).

Miller said that one of the highlights in Italy included riding in a gondola in Venice and getting to see artists blow glass.

Dean said that from a leader’s perspective, one of the best experiences was watching the students complete a Riddle Rally activity in Rome. “The students (in groups of five) were given a list of destinations within walking distance and asked to discover these locations and return to a central spot at the end of three hours,” she explained. “Everyone loved it. They found they were challenged, they could survive on their own, and they all came back with a love of gellato (Italian ice).”

From Italy they traveled to Austria, where they had home stays awaiting them. During his home stay, Miller went to school with the daughter of his host family.

Dean said that one of the trip highlights for the delegates in Austria was getting to talk with a Holocaust survivor. “What an opportunity!  Students were able to listen to his experience and ask direct questions about matters not normally covered,” Dean said. “The next day, we were able to visit Mauthausen Concentration Camp. Although we arrived late in the day, the film we were able to watch and the visit to the quarry where the prisoners worked day and night, throughout all weather, was incredible and some felt it was overwhelming.”

In Austria they also partied at a disco, ate dinner at a castle and lunched at a farm where they got to see the workers make their own flour.

From Austria, the delegates went to Switzerland for a quick one-day trip that included several walking tours. In Switzerland, they also toured a culinary school, where they got to bake their own apple fritters. Miller noted that Austria and Switzerland had some of the most impressive scenery, and he was able to take some great pictures with his digital camera.

In Paris, the delegates toured Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower as well as other notable landmarks. “There’s so much history over there,” Miller said. “So it was cool to be able to see all of that in person.”

Williams agreed and said that seeing the Eiffel Tower was probably the best experience of the whole trip simply because it is one of those worldly landmarks that you see in pictures. “It’s cool to be able to say I climbed to the top,” he said.

Traffic and pickpockets

Throughout the trip Miller and Williams agreed that the traffic overseas was terrible especially for pedestrians. “We were such a big group that we would all try to cross the street together, but the lights were never long enough,” Miller said. “It was survival of who could scramble the fastest.”

Williams noted that the group also had to constantly be on alert for pickpockets, which seems to be a universal problem abroad. One girl in their group had her camera stolen right off the bat at the airport in Italy.

Back home

When the delegates landed back in the states after their three weeks abroad, more excitement awaited. As they exited the airport in New York the group witnessed a good old-fashioned fistfight in which a security guard threw another guy over the hood of a cab before throwing him back on the ground and breaking a radio over his head. For two teenage boys this was a notable highlight. “It was a nice welcome back to the states,” Miller joked.

It was such a whirlwind trip that the delegates hardly had a chance to be homesick. Three weeks full of tours, home stays and bus trips went by in such a flash that Miller said he didn’t truly have time to reflect on it until he was home.  “I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed it until it was over,” he said.

Dean said she feels these overseas excursions through the People to People program benefit everyone involved. “The whole trip was an awesome opportunity for everyone (leaders and students) to have global experiences, enlarge their own worlds, and share throughout,” she said. “As a volunteer leader, I believe these trips are incredible opportunities for everyone to expand their world and opportunities, to develop individual strengths, and the ability to work with others.”

Both Miller and Williams have continued to communicate with friends they made on the trip. “I’ve kept in touch with a lot of people through MySpace (Web site) and phone calls,” Williams said. “It was a lot of fun. I would definitely do it again.”

Both believe that they have inspired their younger siblings to travel abroad when they get older. “My sister — she’s already got it planned out where she’s going to go and what she’s going to do,” Williams said.

Miller noted that even months after being back home, he still experiences daily reminders of this trip overseas. “There was this ad on TV the other day and it showed one of the fountains in Italy, and I thought ‘I was there’,” he said.