February 23, 2009

Africa Trip Offers A ‘Renewed Calling'

By Jenny Jones

Educator’s Journey Affirms Career Choice

PENN LAIRD - Working with middle school students can sometimes be daunting, but one local school administrator found rejuvenation in an unlikely place.

Drew Miller, assistant principal at Montevideo Middle School, traveled to South Africa in September and says the experience made him even more committed to his career.

Since returning from the trip that was sponsored by Rotary International, Miller has shared photos and stories about the culture and educational system in South Africa with local students, teachers and community members.

Rotary International sends business professionals to other countries through its Group Study Exchange. The program provides travel grants for teams to visit different countries, where they observe how their vocations are practiced, according to the Rotary International Web site.

Next month, a group from South Africa will visit this area as part of the exchange.

Miller said he applied for the South Africa trip because he's always wanted to visit the nation located at the southern tip of Africa to see how its people are dealing with issues such as race relations, poverty and crime, especially in the school systems.

"I've always wanted to go, particularly to South Africa," Miller said. "The problems that ... they're addressing are problems, really, our whole world is addressing."

South Africans Face Hardships

Miller and his group traveled to about a dozen different towns and villages throughout South Africa and stayed with host families the duration of the month-long trip.

When he wasn't visiting orphanages or gold mines, Miller toured schools and visited with teachers, administrators and students to get a feel for how the country's education system operates.

During his visits to schools, Miller also shared information about the United States education system and talked about what it's like to work in Rockingham County Schools.

The trip, Miller said, was eye opening and unforgettable.

He visited a school that operated out of run-down one-room building with outhouses, a school where teachers left for the day when the principal was out at a conference, and a school where teachers were forced to continue working with a student who assaulted the school secretary.

Despite facing such overwhelming problems as AIDS, poverty, crime and high unemployment, Miller said he saw a lot of happiness on his trip. Children who walked to school barefoot in shorts and T-shirts on a 45-degree day still played and smiled, he said.

"I saw kids playing with garbage and having a blast," Miller said. "I just wonder if [the South African teacher] comes here and says, ‘These people have everything and they're not content.'"

‘A Renewed Calling'

As he took in the South African culture and observed its educational system, Miller said he felt a greater sense of the importance education plays in people's lives.

All the major problems plaguing the country could be improved through better education, he said.

"It was like a renewed calling [to my job as an educator]," said Miller, who is in his second year as assistant principal at Montevideo Middle School. "I thought, ‘Here's why I do what I do.'"

Supervisor Supportive Of Trip

Lisa Milliken, principal at Montevideo Middle School, said she was supportive of Miller's decision to go to South Africa and can tell that his experiences there have only fueled his drive to help children.

"This position can be very stressful and frustrating at times; it can make you question your purpose as an educator," Milliken said. "I think after seeing the poverty, crime and violence in South Africa, [Drew] became even more compassionate about his purpose here."

In addition to refreshing Miller's career perspective, his experiences in South Africa open up possibilities for future exchanges with the people he met during his trip, Milliken said.

"The development of a relationship between Drew and the South African students [could] lead to great learning activities such as a pen pal project between our students and South African students," she said. "I know others, like teachers, students and community members, are learning from his experience as well."

Contact Jenny Jones at 574-6286 or jjones@dnronline.com