Global Studies Expands Service Travel Opportunities to Trinidad

Part of what makes Sewickley Academy such a globally-aware and hands-on community is the Global Studies program, which has significantly expanded in recent years and includes an upcoming spring break trip to Trinidad, an island off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. The trip, which the Global Studies office has planned in partnership with Amizade and Global Solutions Pittsburgh, will focus on service work. Mrs. Stewart, Global Studies program coordinator at the Academy, chose to deviate from traditional spring break trips to places such as Germany and England in favor of a trip to this unpopulated region where community service will be greatly impactful. 

Five Senior School students will be be going on the trip accompanied by Middle School teacher Christy Knable. The Global Studies office has met with program leaders and established connections with Beulah Joseph-Clunis, the site director for Amizade and leader of DORCAS, a grass-roots women’s group in the small village of Matelot. Students will work to improve the roads, a critical need for residents, and work alongside community projects to strengthen and develop the island. 

Mrs. Stewart is optimistic that the trip will be both successful and meaningful, and will also open up new possibilities for the Global Studies program. “This particular trip is part of a pilot program,” Stewart explains, “and represents a creative use of local and international resources and connections.” Through this trip and others like it, Sewickley Academy’s Global Studies program will be looking to cultivate more community-oriented experiences that allow our students to live out the SA mission of service for “the greater good.”