Team Romania:
Georgina Guyton
Grade 11
Photo: Georgina poses for a photo at the school board with Mayor Walsh and other members of Team Romania.
Georgina Guyton stood apart as a mature, capable leader during the service trip to Romania with the Burke. While on the trip, Georgina rose to every challenge, trying new things and leading the team by example through all the projects. She maintained a level of maturity that kept the other students focused and motivated during their service projects, and she helped to redirect other students that may have been unsure of what to do next. Georgina even went above and beyond, volunteering to do activities that were not required. “On several mornings I woke up early to fix some breakfast for the group,” Georgina said, “I love cooking so it didn’t bother to fix up some eggs for everyone.”
As well as establishing herself as a leader within her group, Georgina’s capacity to make connections with the communities they served was commendable. She expressed compassion for the children in the orphanage, and didn’t let any previous perceptions or insecurity get in her way of being action oriented. “I was happier seeing the little children learning our language,” she said. “I know they were nervous speaking English to us because there were many of us in the group, but they did so good. Even the ones that tried speaking English for the first time.” Her understanding and action-oriented nature is an attitude her teachers noticed she is now carrying back at home.
Georgina was most excited about the connections she was able to make with the Romanian people. “I love the people of Romania because they were so nice and welcoming to us coming into their country,” she said. For many of the people they worked with, it was their first time seeing people with darker skin, something that Georgina noted with optimism about bridging differences between cultures. “I was glad that they enjoyed themselves and saw that we were no different from other people just because of our skin color.”