By Glenn Hicks

Expanding student horizons: P.A. Travel Club returns from Southeast Asia

Apr 19, 2018 | 2:00 PM

A group of 70 Prince Albert students recently returned from a 17-day trip to Southeast Asia with a new perspective on the world and their own lives.

The annual P.A. Youth Travel Club toured Thailand and Vietnam, including various stops in Thailand and a visit to Ho Chi Minh City. The trip, for students anywhere from Grade 9 to the first year of post-secondary, was aimed at expanding students’ horizons and also featured a humanitarian element. The club’s tour director arranged for some younger local school children to visit their hotel in Thailand for an evening of song, fun and giving.

“We’d all packed various supplies as gifts and we had them all spread out,” club founder Donna Dalziel told paNOW. “You looked around and there were parents with tears streaming down their faces because their little ones were excited … you just saw the love that was flowing.”

Those gifts for the less fortunate included school supplies, hygiene products and toys. Once the kids received their gifts, Dalziel said there was still enough for the parents.

“Our students packed between five and 10 pounds of gifts each and there were pounds and pounds of them,” Dalziel said.” Many of the students brought overweight luggage.”

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Megan Tomyn, a Grade 11 student at Carlton, said the trip was an eye-opener.

“Just seeing how they deal with the heat and how busy it is there with so many people, it’s amazing,” she said.

Daxton Ursu, who is in Grade 12 at St. Mary, said the trip gave him a new perspective on a historically-important part of the world.

“The amount and type of people that you meet it’s just outrageous, and it expands your point of view on everything. It’s so different learning their perspective instead of the American side,” he said.

The P.A. Travel Club is already planning for next Easter’s trip to six European countries and will host a meeting April 23 at 6 p.m. at Messiah Lutheran Church.

glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow