GCL: Cultures Coalesce

Our Global Community Leadership (GCL) team partnered with Utah State University to award participants with upper-division college credit upon the completion of a 5-month long hybrid curriculum and a two-week learning experience in Cambodia. Read about their experiences and learning developments below. Click here to learn more about GCL.

 Upon our arrival to the campus of Sustainable Cambodia we were greeted by a flood of cheering children as we walked off of our oven of a van. Paper necklaces made by the children were placed over our heads as we made our way towards the center of campus where opening ceremonies began taking place.

We began the ceremony with the national anthem of Cambodia. We were greeted with beautiful traditional dances, speeches, and songs performed by the students. We then had the opportunity to share a piece of our American culture through a series of Native American dances. This was a very profound and unique experience because it was the first time in Youthlinc history that Native American culture was exposed in any of our opening ceremonies.

Monae, Jessica, and Quisheima performed a hoop dance that symbolized animals that are sacred to the Navajo tribe. Afterwards Elway and Q led the entire Youthlinc group in a pow wow round dance that the children were able to participate in. After our cultural exchange Youthlinc participants and the S.C students showed off their best dance moves. This was an incredible start to our journey in Cambodia.