Youth and young adult citizens of Gary Northwest Indiana and the Chicagoland areas embarked on an educational excursion of a lifetime on August 3, when they left for a 9 day/8 night travel experience in London, England in the United Kingdom. The educational globalization excursion is developed and organized by the London Education Abroad “globalization” Project (L. E. A. P.) LEAP participants, as they are referred, are excited about becoming “Citizens of the World” through global awareness.
LEAP participants from Northwest Indiana and the Chicagoland area departed from the Indiana University Northwest (south parking lot) in Gary, Indiana at 3 p.m. by Limousine Motor Coach to O’Hare International Airport.
The LEAP education excursion has been in the planning since July 2017 by the London Education Abroad/Globalization Project. LEAP, a 501c3 non-profit organization is devoted to providing middle/high school, college students, educators and interested citizens an opportunity to travel abroad. The goal of the organization is to assist LEAP participants in their quest for broader cultural experiences. “By traveling abroad, LEAP participants will engage in global interactions, providing them with multi-cultural awareness and understandings; becoming members of an even greater society. “With exposures to new and different customs, traditions, ways of thinking; it is our belief that those who have an opportunity to travel to other parts of the world will become even more so curious to explore and appreciate differences that serves as a platform to unite us!” said Dan Thompson, LEAP president/CEO. The first cohort left July 13. The August 3 LEAP educational excursion is our 2019 second cohort. Not only will LEAP participants see such popular sites as The Tower of London, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Canterbury Cathedral and the British Museum, but will experience an introductory class in Shakespearean theater while attending a professional Shakespearean performance at the International Globe Theater. Naomi Kinsey, Executive Director of LEAP, offered her perspective on the voyage. “I am so pleased that this group has the opportunity to travel out of the country. I had the privilege of studying abroad as an undergraduate student at Valparaiso University. Spending a semester in Cambridge, England, I’ve met and lived among people that I still keep in touch with today.This trip is so important, especially in the wake of re- cent rhetoric around nativism and xenophobia. It is my hope that by em- bracing global travel, the wonders of diversity will be explored and shared now and into the future.”
Middle/high school, college students, parents and interested citizens who would like to join us in the 2020 Leap Educational Excursion can contact Donald L. Thompson, President/CEO via their website: www.leapintolondon.org, “Like” them on their LEAP Face- book Page for up to date news on current and future LEAP Educational Globalization Excursions.
