Freshman Ellen Smith and sophomore Carly Baker are excited to go on their mission trip to Panama this summer. Photo by: Maggie Morrow

By Maggie Morrow

This summer, along with Mrs. Delia Gadziola, freshman Ellen Smith and sophomore Carly Baker will be traveling to Panama for two weeks to do mission work and experience the different culture.

A typical day of their two-week stay will consist of spending several hours doing work in the school, studying the culture, sightseeing and spending the evenings with their host family.  While learning more about the culture, the girls will learn some of the traditional dances performed in Panama.

“I can’t wait to see what life is like down there, and I am excited to get to experience Panama and its people,” Smith said.  For her, other than some exploring in Canada and visiting the Bahamas when she was younger, she has not spent much time outside of the country.  “This will be my first time traveling internationally without my family,” she admitted.

Each person in the group will be split up when they get to Panama to stay with a different family.  Although they do not know the people they will be staying with, the girls are not concerned.  “The families had to apply to be a part of the AFS [American Field Service] program, so we will be quite welcomed,” Smith said.

The girls do admit, however, that it will be strange at first to stay with a family that they do not know very well.  “Their culture will probably have differences to ours, but being immersed into it this way as we stay with families and get a hands-on approach in the country will help a lot,” Smith said.  The girls agreed that living with a family will help a lot, but also the sightseeing that the group has planned will be a great experience.  “Going to Panama is hopefully going to open all of our eyes as to what is outside of the U.S. There is a whole different world outside of our country of fast food and instant access, and sooner or later I think we should all see that firsthand,” she added.

“I want to learn about the culture and just their ways of life.  I’m looking forward to learning about the way they live and do things.” Baker said.

Although they are each a little nervous, both girls admit that they are very anxious to go.  “I feel like I am ready to go to Panama.  I know that even though being away for two whole weeks might be weird, it will definitely go by fast,” Smith said.

While Baker is nervous about the food and whether or not she will like it, Smith admits to being more worried about the language barrier.  “Not being able to communicate with people clearly is something I am kind of nervous about, but I know it will all end up fine in the end, and my current Spanish skills should cover most of the basics anyway.”  She hopes to return with the ability to speak fluently in Spanish.  Baker feels similarly, saying, “I’ve taken two years of Spanish, but I’m not very good at it so I’m sure it’ll take some getting used to, but hopefully this will help me for Spanish [class] next year.”

Baker feels that the mission trip to Panama will “be a lot of hard work but it’ll definitely be worth it.”