A meeting for the Metea LIFE Abroad (MLA) Launch Party, announcing the four-year plan, was held on Feb. 12 at 6 PM in F215. MLA is a program that takes students and teachers to experience cultures across the globe. MLA will be celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2027 after the original launch of the program in 2017. The meeting will cover the travel vision for the next four years, feature an informational overview about a Leadership Summit, and provide students and families with the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the program.
MLA leader Kristen Digiorgio-Kadich shares her perspective on the importance of the program and its significance to students, along with the social and emotional impacts created while on these trips.
“Every single year, on our departure day home, we have kids in tears because the trip is over,” Digiorgio-Kadich said.
Metea LIFE Abroad trips leave students with lasting social connections and encourage personal growth, which are some of the strongest benefits the program has to offer to students.
“They don’t want to leave their friends, [that] they’ve made lifelong bonds with,” Digiorgio-Kadich said. “Not even with only kids from our school, but from other schools as well…which is really, really special.”
MLA allows students to explore different cultures in ways not common in the school setting. With trips that span countries and days spent focusing on history or experiences specific to the community they are in. MLA invites students from any grade level to expand their current viewpoints of the world and personally experience different ways of living.
Senior Rodney Williams shares his experience with being on a recent MLA trip and a run-in with culture shock.
“There were a lot of cats, like strays in Greece, in Italy, and Europe in general, actually,” Williams said. “And they still feed the strays, so, basically, strays are still pets, just without owners.”
The experience of adapting to a new culture’s customs for the first time helps students to create a greater appreciation for countries and the communities that strengthen and formidenties.
To find more information about the Metea LIFE Abroad program, please contact Kristen Digiorgio-Kadich, Rachel Bostick, Ann Cluxton, Amy Madzinski, or Adam Page.
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