The Beginning

Summer of 2008, I was asked to take the chance of a life time. To travel to Nigeria.

Last year, I was a Junior in high school and part of a wonderful international business competition/club at our school called SAGE (Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship). SAGE is all about making not only ones own community a better place, but the world as well ,through a variety of different projects such as Entrepreneurship, Environmental, Social, Civic and Global. Each SAGE team then competes at the State level. The top two teams that win, progress to Nationals, and from Nationals the top two teams that win, will represent their country at the International level that's held in a different country each year. That year it was being held in Nigeria. Our team made second in State and fourth in Nationals. Unfortunately that meant that we were unable to compete at the World cup. Disheartened yet proud of our accomplishments our team headed down to the hotel lobby after the Nationals competition had finished. Curt DeBerg the founder of SAGE approached our team and told us how impressed with us he was. He then asked me to accompany him and his college mentors to Nigeria, to learn from the teams that had made it to World and to help his mentors. I being the youngest on our team of 7 at the time (a Junior and all the rest Seniors) would be the director of next years SAGE team, Curt knowing this...asked me.

I remember so vividly, how it seemed as though time had simply stopped. I could scarcely make sense of what he had just asked let alone respond in a way that wasn't gibberish. The only thing I could hear clearly was my heart beat...which was at a pretty fast rate to say the least. It has always been my dream to be a world traveler. You see, I was that little girl prancing around the house with my explorer cape on searching for burried treasure and dragons. To be able to start my dream...my adventure in a place like  Africa was something that I honestly can't put into words. So this is where it all began. Little did I know this trip would change my life forever and begin in me a new dream.