It’s not every day that you get to travel the world, but for one local eighth grader, a jet setting summer awaits.
Olivia Reinert, 13, an eighth grader at Twin Valley Middle School, was one of 20 students chosen from the area to serve as a People to People Student Ambassador this summer. The People to People Celtic Cultures service trip will take Reinert on a 19-day journey to Ireland, England, North Wales, and Scotland. With two introductory meetings under her belt and a scheduled Blue Marsh clean up in April, Reinert is feeling prepared and ready to begin the journey.
Twenty students from Berks and Lancaster counties will meet up with a group of 20 students from California in Philadelphia before departing across the Atlantic.
The Student Ambassadors will visit London, visit London, where they will meet up with a representative of Parliament, clean up gardens, tour the Tower of London, and Buckingham Palace. In Wales, the students will work in a local hospital. Also while in Wales, Reinert will overcome her fear of heights and rappel 70 feet off a tower wall at Penrhyn Castle.
“I want to be able to say I did it and conquer my fear,” Reinert told Berks-Mont Newspapers. “It will make me feel more confident about myself.”
In Scotland, she will be helping out on a sheep farm where the students will help train puppies. Reinert will help dig peat in Ireland, which will then be used to heat an elderly home.
“I’m looking forward to Ireland the most,” she said. “My mom’s mom always goes there and talks about [often].”
In Ireland, it is customary that every child plays an instrument. During their visit with a host family, the People to People Ambassadors will participate in a town dance, live music, songs and bonfire.
For Reinert the new experience is about expanding her knowledge of the world.
“I want to meet new people and go new places. There is more than just our little hometown…There are more people who think differently, feel differently and talk differently,” Reinert said. “It’s cool to meet those people, compare things you have in common and don’t have in common.”
Among the adventures that await, Reinert will kayak past J.K. Rowling’s home and get the thrill of a lifetime white water rafting.
Before departing on the journey, Reinert and her family have been doing local fundraisers to help offset the cost of the trip.
As a way to raise funds, Reinert’s family is looking to host a fundraiser at Divot’s Bar and Grill in Flying Hills in April.
