My Quest Project made my experience simply excellent. From the beginning Filipskolen embraced me into their community and included me as one of their own. There was never a feeling of separating of me & them; I always felt like a loved, respected, and valued volunteer and member of their community. I truly feel like I not only helped to contribute to an already thriving school community, but I also feel that the Filipskolen community gave so much back to me. Without knowing it they taught me to have confidence in myself, to trust my instincts, and to have faith that I can excel as an ESL teacher.

Completing my year-long Quest with United Planet has enabled me to start the life and career path that seemed like a pipe-dream only two years ago. Volunteering, traveling the world, and teaching ESL have been goals of mine that I’ve always dreamt of accomplishing and this past year I was finally able to achieve them. Volunteering in Denmark this past year as taught me that the world has so much to teach us and that we are doing ourselves a disservice if we don’t open our eyes, hearts, and ears to learn from them. I’ve learned that sometimes it’s better to follow than to lead, and that leaning on your fellow colleagues for support isn’t weak.

My quest made me realize that we are stronger as a team than we are an individual, and real change comes when we embrace each others differences and similarities, working towards a common goal that benefits all instead of one.