{"id":224314,"date":"2017-06-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-23T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/destination-india\/"},"modified":"2017-06-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-23T07:00:00","slug":"destination-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/destination-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Destination India"},"content":{"rendered":"

Girl Scout to go on cultural immersion trip<\/strong><\/p>\n

Por Cynthia Robertson<\/p>\n

Being in Girl Scouts has taught St. Martin\u2019s Academy student Alexandria Freeman to go the extra mile in all she does. She had that in mind when she applied for travel opportunities with the Girl Scouts Destinations program. As a result, on July 8, Freeman will be going on a trip for 10 days with 14 other Girl Scouts from around the world to India.<\/p>\n

But Freeman did not simply win the trip, as in a contest or expense-paid program.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe applied, met the criteria, and was chosen for the trip as a good fit and asset to the leadership experience,\u201d said her mother Amanda Freeman, who is also an assistant troop leader.<\/p>\n

\"Destination<\/a>
Alexandria Freeman with her Language Arts teacher Maria Mosel at St. Martin\u2019s Academy (Foto por Cynthia Robertson)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Girl Scouts who apply to the Destinations program can try for up to four trips or adventures. In fact, Freeman had applied for two, writing one cover letter each for the trip to Pune, India and the Space Academy in Huntsville, Alabama. She was accepted for both, but she had to choose between the two.<\/p>\n

\u201cI picked the India trip because I am interested in their culture. It started when I was a little girl when I used to dress up as Jasmine, my favorite Disney princess.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freeman was chosen for the trip largely because of the cover letter in her application to the Destinations program.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had to tell why she would be a good candidate to go on the trip,\u201d said Alana Snyder, who is Freeman\u2019s troop leader. \u201cLearning to promote yourself is a very hard but important skill for teens to learn.\u00a0Teens tend to naturally think of it as bragging, but it’s so much more.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her cover letter, Freeman wrote about some of her skills and personality traits that point to leadership.<\/p>\n

Calling herself a \u201cpeople person\u201d in the letter, she wrote: \u201cI love to talk, especially if I get to talk about things that better my city, my country, and women everywhere. I have planned and led stations at many Girl Scout workshops hosted by my troop to earn Journey badges, and continuously tell girls about how to stop stereotypes and how to see them as their best self.\u201d<\/p>\n

Freeman consistently reaches for the best she can be, too. As soon as she found out that she had been accepted into the travel opportunity to India, she went to the library to get books about India and she downloaded an app to teach herself some Hindi. In addition, Freeman is learning about the spices used in Indian cooking.<\/p>\n

Her mother is often right alongside her in learning all things India.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe looked India up on a map and studied what she may see and hear and experience while there,\u201d Amanda said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went to a travel clinic and got the required shots and medicines and such.\u00a0We have been getting clothes ready and talking about how we will attempt to communicate with their time zone and ours \u2014 and with spotty internet and electricity.\u201d\"Destination<\/a><\/p>\n

During her stay at Pune, India, Freeman will be visiting a women\u2019s shelter and orphanage as part of her community service.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust the other night, Alex asked to use some of her recycling money to purchase supplies. We came home with a giant bag of stuff she wants to take,\u201d Amanda said.<\/p>\n

The trip was open to girls 11 and older nationwide.\u00a0The Destinations trips are advertised on the local level as well as on GSUSA’s website.<\/p>\n

Freeman was asked if she wanted some financial assistance through Girl Scouts to help fund the trip, in exchange for community service hours, but she chose to give those dollars to girls who may truly need assistance.<\/p>\n

Snyder said that the Destination Program\u00a0has been going on at least since the 1980s when she herself was a Cadette. Back then the program was called Wider Opportunities.<\/p>\n

When it comes time to apply for the Destination Program in the fall, each Girl Scout may apply up to four trips. The travel program is designed to allow girls to be involved in various experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea is that the best learning is by doing,\u201d Snyder said.<\/p>\n

Trip opportunities include the U.S. and international.\u00a0The six categories for the trips are International, Outdoors, Science, People, Apprenticeships, and Gateways, the latter of which are typically two-to-four-day trips.<\/p>\n

The main point of Girl Scouts is to get out and explore the world and other places; doing so gives one a better perspective and understanding of other people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really want Girl Scouts to continue to open new doors for me, especially through traveling. Going to India will open my eyes and see \u2018a whole new world\u2019 that I never knew existed,\u201d Freeman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been counting down the days on my calendar until I leave. I even started packing some things early,\u201d said Freeman.<\/p>\n

\u2014Cynthia Robertson is a San Diego-based freelance writer. Reach her at c1g2robertson@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Girl Scout to go on cultural immersion trip By Cynthia Robertson Being in Girl Scouts has taught St. Martin\u2019s Academy student Alexandria Freeman to go the extra mile in all she does. She had that in mind when she applied for travel opportunities with the Girl Scouts Destinations program. As a result, on July 8, […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":224315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11548","_seopress_titles_title":"Destination India","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-224314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-la-mesa-courier"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}