Class has been in session for two months, and it seems like everything this semester has lead up to this week. My classmates are just starting to arrive at the airport to leave for Dumfries, Scotland, and reality is just starting to set in. In just a few days, we will be exploring Southern Scotland, and we’ll begin our work in Dumfries soon afterward.

 

Our objective is to help the First Base Food Bank in Dumfries by raising community awareness of its services and to assist the students and instructors at a local primary school in utilizing grant money through school gardens and environmental education. Even though we have been working on these projects throughout the semester, I still worry that our efforts will not be sustainable. This is the Scotland program’s first year, and we would like to see our plans continue in future years. I am confident that our team and our colleagues in Dumfries can accomplish great things, even though we may not see an immediate impact. We have sufficiently evaluated the needs of the Dumfries community and communicated with the people we will work with, and we have started to formulate a plan of action for the trip, so we are prepared to begin to make a difference.

 

The next time you hear from me, I will be across the pond in Dumfries!