A summer of teaching and learning

By Brian Fleischer, ’19 (undeclared)

It was under the hot Accra sun that I realized why I was back home, why I was among this amazing group of students, and why I was doing this work in the first place.

When I received the Donald Kennedy Fellowship to work with high school students to propose and develop innovative solutions to problems they had discovered within their communities, I was still unsure if that was how I wanted to spend my summer. I was also unsure if I would be capable to lead the cohort of peer mentors and generally facilitate this project.

Not long after interacting with these students I realized that this was also a learning experience for me and a chance to immerse myself within and discover myself. I got to know and understand to some extent the various problems these students encountered and marveled at the novelty and practicality of the ideas presented. From “P-Coal,” a greener and cheaper alternative for charcoal made of waste, to “Senior Smile,” a youth movement for the neglected elderly, these ideas proved to the students themselves, their communities, and myself that the youth are indeed central drivers of positive change within their communities.

It was under that hot Accra sun that I realized that I was there to find myself.