Gary Ambassadors Help Build Guatemalan School
By Anthony Kadarrell Thigpen
Ambassador Academy ninth graders from Gary, Indiana, took flight to Guatemala to help build a school for impoverished kids. The missions team of 8 students and 2 faculty members returned to America with the gift of gratitude.
School officials began early purpose awareness training (EPAT) to help seventh through ninth graders identify careers that best fit their personality. “EPAT enables students to go behind the scenes and take a closer look,” facilitator Andrea Winfrey said. “It’s split into two phases.” Phase I mobilizes seventh-grade visits to major corporations, small businesses, and civil government agencies. Phase II allows eighth and ninth graders to tour colleges—including Christian, business, private, and historically black colleges.
While the school travels annually to places such as Washington, D.C., New York, and Canada, this year’s ninth graders kicked off an international missions trip. According to faculty chaperone Mary Thomas, the 10-day expedition allowed inner-city teenagers to develop broader perspectives. “The things they saw caused them to become more appreciative,” she said. “Students there had no books, they used outdoor toilets, and teachers taught with very limited supplies.” The impoverished communities, dilapidated villages, and lackluster environment exposed our teenagers to difficult-to-forget conditions in the third world.
According to 15-year-old student Arika Ivery, her life changed forever on May 2, 2006: “I see things differently,” she said. “[The trip] gave me a true sense of what it really means to be a blessing to others.” Arika described the poor conditions of the small three-building school that had no doors and five classrooms. “The unsafe playground consisted of dirt embedded with metal poles,” she said. “And the students played only with marbles.”
In addition to building and painting walls and donating school supplies and classroom decorations, all the Ambassadors gave from their heart. “We told the kids about the love of Jesus,” Arika said. The village of Chimaltengo in San Antonio, Guatemala, permanently marks the spot where Gary Ambassadors received the gift of gratitude. “In Guatemala, sometimes there’s running water and at other times there isn’t,” Arika said. “I won’t even take something as simple as taking a shower for granted anymore.”
Ambassador Academy excels at educating innercity youth. And EPAT is an additional tool that school officials are using to teach purpose and help teenagers gain gratitude.
The Meantime Volume 6 Number 1