Selwyn_Times: February 07, 2024

Selwyn Times Wednesday February 7 2024
10
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Lincoln High’s Nepal trip: Reflecting on
lessons learned outside the classroom
At the end of last year,
29 Lincoln High School
students travelled
to Nepal with World
Challenge, a global
experiential travel
provider
for schools.
Deputy
principal
Kylie
Horgan
reports
CURRENTLY there is a great
deal of conversation going on
in our political, educational
and community spheres about
our schools and the education
they provide. There is a specific
focus on literacy and numeracy,
the traditional ‘core’ skills, and
knowledge that we believe our
young people need to have to
thrive in a changing world.
As I read the journal entries
shared by the 28 students who
took part in the World Challenge
expedition, I see that they are
taking something much more
precious than reading or writing
with them into the futures they
build for themselves and the
communities they contribute to.
The LHS World Challenge
team that boarded the plane
at Christchurch airport in
November returned three weeks
later with more understanding
of the privilege they had, an understanding
of the importance
and impact one person can have
upon another, a desire to ‘give
back’ more in their communities
and a feeling of wellbeing that
only comes from doing good for
others.
The eight-day trek in the Langtang
Valley was challenging.
Day one was nothing short of
gruelling with an altitude of 1100
WORK: Maia Wanoa and
Zoe Fenton carrying
blocks to build two new
classrooms as part of their
school project.
metres ascended over 11km. Step
after step the students challenged
both their mental and physical
fitness. But over these eight days,
friendships and bonds were
created through extreme shared
experiences as they trekked from
village to village, immersing
themselves in the lives of the
Nepalese communities they
passed along the way.
The experience included connecting
with children, building
relationships with our Nepalese
support team of porters and
sherpas, visiting stupa and
memorials from the Langtang
landslide, experiencing the
impact that the support of local
trade can have upon a family,
helping prepare meals, meditating
in monasteries only a few
metres from handwritten texts
that are thousands of years old
and having the timing of your
trip coinciding with the visit of a
Holy Lama to the area.
To top this all off, as long as
altitude symptoms or other sickness
didn’t prevent, they were
able to ascend one of two peaks
of 4400m and/or 4700m.
The second component of the
expedition was the community
work. The two teams - Lang and
Tang, named after the Langtang
valley – participated in a community
project in a small rural
school close to the bustling city
of Pokhara, either before the trek
or following the trek, depending
on the team.
Where the trek component can
be at times an individual pursuit,
the community project required
the teams to come together in
pursuit of a shared goal that was
for the benefit of a community
that was not their own.
The ‘welcomes’ to the schools
and communities was a tearjerker.
The air was thick and
heavy with gratitude, love, and
happiness from the Nepalese
people it almost choked you with
emotion. The students were overwhelmed
as for many of them, it
was the first time they had ever
experienced such a strong community
connection.
Intergenerational families,
students and staff were all
present to welcome us to their
humble community, laying the
students with wreaths of flowers
and blessing their temples with
red chalk.
I purposefully stood back to
the side of the gate entrance to
observe the awe and amazement
of our young people as they
experienced this for the first
time. I remember thinking to
myself – you can’t learn this in a
classroom. You can’t learn this in
a book. But in many ways, these
are some of the most important
educational opportunities that
our young people can have. This
is what builds character, values
diversity, builds resilience and
embraces change and growth.
And these are, in many ways,
what will create successful futures
and communities. Futures
where our young people have
pushed themselves mentally and
physically and now feel like they
can do anything.
“Nepal has changed my perspective
on what is happening
around me and to me. I hiked for
eight days and helped in a school
– I feel like I can do anything,”
one student said.
In the two schools in which
they worked, the students
contributed to extensive maintenance
work, carried blocks and
sand up a hill to the school to
help build two new classrooms,
painted alphabets and numbers
onto classroom walls, painted
murals and also spent time playing
and engaging with students.
The impact they had in these
schools and subsequently the
impact the experience had
upon our LHS challengers was
significant.
CONNECTION: Team Lang members at the 4400m
peak of Langtang with Jangbu Sherpa. Right – Max
Wilson from Team Tang with two students at their
school project just outside of Pokhara.
“I feel so lucky and grateful. It
changed the way I see my life as I
now realise my privilege and that
I have the ability to aid others,”
another student said.
The final component of the
expedition was the cultural and
sightseeing aspect. One team
challenged themselves with
some white-water rafting and
overnight riverside camping,
while the other experienced a
cooking class with a non-profit
organisation called Seven
Sisters who work to increase
literacy and opportunities
for women across Nepal. The
monkey temple in Kathmandu
was ventured to, as well as an
overnighter in the heritage city
of Bhaktapur where students had
a guided tour of the historical
royal palace temples, baths and
grounds.
Coming home was bittersweet
as students pounced upon
the unsuspecting staff at
McDonalds in Auckland
Airport at 1am, once customs
and immigration had been
cleared. In Christchurch, the
focus was thankfully more so
upon reuniting with family and
friends rather than Big Macs and
thick shakes.
I suspect like the staff the
students have spent a lot of time
reflecting upon their expedition
to Nepal. As a staff member, it
was a humbling experience in
many ways. Sometimes we get
so fixed on our classroom work
and measuring outcomes to
gauge an idea of what success
looks like, that we can forget
what experiences and challenges
outside the classroom can offer
our young people.
Because these experiences
are also fundraised and/or selffunded
it can seem that they
are not a reality for everyone
to have, but with the support
of our Selwyn ‘village’ we were
able to reduce these barriers
significantly for these young
people.
Firstly, we would like to thank
our principal Kathy Paterson
and the board of trustees who
gave permission and their
support for the expedition. We
would also like to thank all our
amazing supporters, parents,
friends and businesses that
contributed to this expedition.
The contribution and support
received has created 28 braver,
SUCCESS: Members of
Team Tang celebrate
finishing the trek to Kyanjin
Gumpa, Nepal.
wiser, more confident, more
grateful, more resilient and
more willing young people to
contribute and participate in our
community.
I would love to be able to put
this into a traditional school
context for you so its success
could be measured easily with
a test/exam result number or
percentage, but I can’t. The
knowledge and character that
these students now have because
of this expedition cannot be
measured so easily. However, I
am confident you will agree, that
even if we can’t measure them
‘nicely’, it shouldn’t, and doesn’t,
make them any less valuable to
future participants and leaders
in our communities.