Features

Two thousand four hundred twenty-two miles. That’s how far St. Louis U. High junior Sebastian Schmitt-Arango traveled this summer to the Institución Educativa Juan María Céspedes in Medellin, Colombia. But his journey began before he went on his trip to Columbia. He originally created the program freshman year to connect more SLUH students to the students of Columbia in order to increase their English proficiency.

Schmitt-Arango’s connection to Medellin began long before the program even started. With his love for global education and his family connection to Colombia through his dad, Sebastian set sail for success. He always enjoyed going there with his parents and wanted to give back to a place that he cares for tremendously.

“With my dad being from Colombia, I've been to Colombia many times. That is one reason why I chose Colombia specifically, but also I wanted to create a program that was global in nature,” said Schmitt-Arango. “I wanted my program to be something different, something I'm interested in. Ever since a very young age, I've been traveling to a lot of different places out of the country. I love global education and just learning about how to be a global citizen.”

Freshman year, Schmitt-Arango began working with Director of Global Education Rob Chura and Assistant Director of Global Ed Maria Paz Erker on creating this special program. He first started having Zoom meetings with the students of the Institución, getting to know them and learning about other cultures. After some setup, he started the virtual program for SLUH students to connect with the Colombian students over a Zoom call each week. 

“I know the Colombian students at one point would show different foods they were eating. The goal was to enrich each other's knowledge of the other's culture. So in Colombia, many people don't know much about … the Midwest, Missouri, and specifically St. Louis. So, the SLUH students were able to demonstrate a little and show a little bit of their culture through these meetings,” said Schmitt-Arango.

To keep this program running and make it more official, Schmitt-Arango had to connect with SLUH’s Global Ed program. It took him about a year or so to plan and create the goals that this program hoped to achieve. But eventually, Schmitt-Arango made it so that being a part of the program counts as a viable, inexpensive option for the GlobalEd graduation requirement. 

“He wanted to be more connected to global citizenship. His dad attended this school in Colombia. So he had that contact information already,” said Erker. “We did it in the language lab every Wednesday, and we started having meetings with the administrators involved in the city in Colombia.”

Just like our very own Jr. Bills here at SLUH, the students at Juan María Céspedes were required to take an exam on their English speaking skills. Schmitt-Arango and the moderators measured the program's efficiency by testing the Colombian students on their English, making sure that they were using the knowledge they acquired from the program. Overall, Schmitt-Arango and the SLUH students helped the Colombia students become better English speakers.

Schmitt-Arango began to coordinate plans early last year for a trip to Colombia to meet with the students he's been talking to for the last two years; he made the trip about a week before this school year started to teach the students about English culture while learning some things of his own.

“I'd go from classroom to classroom talking to students, giving mini presentations about the program and why I'm here, and making sure they know I'm glad they're participating in my program,” said Schmitt-Arango. “We went to some museums, and they of course took me to some places to get food. I'm eternally grateful for their reception of me. I met with their principal every day, and he was extremely welcoming to me and made the school feel like home.”

Schmitt-Arango went on this trip not only to learn more about the culture, but also to become a leader and a founder. He already knew about Colombia because of his dad and from his previous trips, but he didn't know how to be someone in charge of such a complex program.

“I would say he's a very impressive young man because he's very mature for his age,” said Erker. “It was his idea, and I just kind of helped him. He did a great job making the Colombian students feel less uncomfortable. The first session was a really eye-opening experience for me to see how well he can run this. He has very innate leadership skills that he was able to develop even more, and he's a global representative. So, I'm happy he has gone that leadership development route, because I saw those skills in this experience.”

Schmitt-Arango hopes the program continues after he graduates.

“The program has been going on for two years now,” said Schmitt-Arango. “One of my goals for this program is to have it be recurring and self-sufficient even after I graduate so that (SLUH) can maintain this relationship with this school and we can continue helping each other, and this trip to Colombia was just to further facilitate our two schools.”