Rotary Hears About Local Global Travel Organization

McKENZIE (April 25, 2023) — Representatives of Global Citizen Adventure Corps, a Dresden-based, non-profit organization, offered the featured program at the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of McKenzie.
Stacie Freeman, a professor at Bethel University and director of Global Studies at the university, and Dr. Julie Hill, a former professor of music and small business owner in Obion County, co-founded the organization. The co-CEOS of the non-profit spoke about travel service opportunities for high school and college students and adults.
Global Citizen Adventure Corps (GCAC) is unique because it provides college credit and scholarships for service-learning and travel opportunities to high school and university students and focuses on rural communities.
GCAC and students from Bethel University recently traveled to Guatemala, where they served in the local community with missionaries from the Cumberland Presbyterian Seminary. Members of the McKenzie Rotary Club supported the trip by providing dental hygiene products for students at a local school. A second trip in March took students from Dresden, Gleason and Bethel to Costa Rica to work alongside in-country partners addressing animal rescue.
Freeman has led service-learning trips for over 10 years, mainly through Bethel University. GCAC is the new non-profit entity that provides travel logistics for the trips. Dr. Hill has a similar background in traveling with students during her tenure as a music instructor. The two have now combined their talents to form GCAC and develop service-learning programs for the area’s youth and adults.

GCAC hopes to expand travel opportunities to students in Carroll and Henry counties, west Tennessee, and the Ohio Valley.
Later this year, GCAC is traveling to Colombia, Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras and Cuba. The price of the trips includes travel, in-country transportation, language translators, food, and housing.
Freeman said, “Expanding horizons and breaking down barriers through education, service, and travel is what Global Citizen Adventure Corps is all about. We are especially excited about our new scholarship program, which we hope will unlock a world of opportunities for local students and help bridge the gap between communities, near and far.”
“We are so grateful to the McKenzie Rotary for their support as we endeavor to create a new global service-learning scholarship program for students in rural areas. Our hope is that we are not just expanding their horizons but also empowering them with the knowledge and skills to create a brighter future for themselves and their own home communities.”
After thanking the Rotarians for their support, the two explained rural youth comprise twenty percent of public school students in the United States. Many are enrolled in Title I high schools, and, if they attend college, they are often the first generation to do so. Rural school districts are small with constrained resources, often based on population, and, therefore, underserved as compared to their urban counterparts. Furthermore, in recent decades, urban and suburban communities have experienced an increase in ethnically diverse populations which is not true in rural settings, further limiting exposure to significant cultural influences.