Student Earns Community Service Hours in Thailand

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photo submitted by Ashley Nensel

Ashley Nensel, senior, participated in a Thailand service trip hosted by National Geographic. Her group had the opportunity to ride elephants. They also gave them mud baths. Said Nensel about the elephant experience,“It was truly gratifying. We were able to bathe them and get a better understanding of their elegance and beauty.”

Travel. Explore. Discover.  That’s what Ashley Nensel, senior, did this summer through a student expedition to Thailand hosted by National Geographic.

“This trip I took was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime thing. I enjoyed being with new people, experiencing this culture and immersing myself in everything that is Thailand,” said Nensel.

Nensel, who now wears a few bracelets around her wrist and an elephant charm around her neck in honor of her journey, went on this 15-day trip with 20 English-speaking strangers.

“The week before, I was extremely nervous as I was going with a group of 20 strangers that I had never met before from all over the world,” she said. “We all met at the airport that morning.”

Along for the trip were three leaders employed by National Geographic who spoke both English and Thai, which made it possible for the group to communicate with the native people in the country.

Nensel did not know any of the Thai language before going on the trip, but the group received a mini-lesson in Thailand.

“I can say some [words] like Hello, Goodbye and Thank you. I can also count to 10 because while we were doing Muay Thai, which is Thai kickboxing, we were stretching, and we had to say 1 through 10 like fifty million times,” said Nensel.

Throughout the trip, everyone bonded and became friends whom she cares about and misses deeply.

“I talk to several of them consistently… it’s hard because we’re all going back to school, but I snapchat and text a lot of them still,” she said.

The last night they were in Thailand, the group was at a beach called Koh Samet doing a final team building activity.

“We had a string, and we went around and told each other one thing we really appreciated about each other,” said Nensel.

As they passed the string along, they would wrap it around their wrist “so in the end [they] were all connected… and then [they] cut the string and tied it to [their] wrists.”

I still have it on, just representing the friendships we made and everything that we shared together in those two weeks,” she said, as she looked down to her wrist at the red and white bracelet.

Besides respecting each other in friendship, Nensel said that they were also respectful of the culture. The girls mostly wore long skirts and shirts that covered their chest and shoulders in public.

They also ate Thai food every day. This included rice in every meal. Noodles and veggies were also commonly used.

Nensel rated this entire experience “a million out of ten.”

On the National Geographic website, it said the organization “offer[s] five types of programs: expeditions, conservation in action trips, photography workshops, community service programs, and our new on campus program.”            

Anyone interested can apply for the opportunity to be accepted. The application process consists of an essay, two teacher recommendations, prior camps/programs, experience with foreign languages and a list of extracurricular activities.

Nensel applied during her junior year and was chosen to participate in one of these excursions.

Her particular trip was a community service program where participants were credited with 40 hours of service. Nensel and the rest of the group members taught English in elementary schools.

“[The schools] were very blue,” she said. “The elementary kids all had uniforms on. [The girls] had French-braided pigtails with little blue bowties in the back… and the boys all had buzz cuts. The elementary classrooms all had colorful desks.”

According to Nensel, the classrooms in Thailand were very similar to those in America with the exception of electronics; there were no Smartboards or computers.

Another difference was that, for cultural reasons, all the students would take off their shoes and put them in shoe racks before entering the classroom.

In addition to teaching at schools, the group also ran a day camp that served the purpose of teaching the English language to children.

Nensel said they tried to make learning English as fun as possible through “lots of singing and dancing” and through the use of crafts.

Nensel and the rest of the group also had time to do other activities on their own while in Thailand. They visited local markets, learned to kickbox, danced and rode elephants. Not only were they able to ride the elephants, they also gave them mud baths.

“Ashley is someone that likes to live a little on the fun side of life, the wild side,” said Trevor Fox, senior and close friend of Nensel’s. “She always tells me about all the different trips she wants to go on in the future.”

Nensel has always had a desire to travel the world, and she has already been to a few countries outside of the U.S., such as Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Germany.

This summer also included a trip to Italy with her family once she returned from Thailand.

She said, “Looking back on it, I really think Thailand is a very serene, beautiful country, and I can’t wait to go back.”