Returning Wilde Lake, Government teacher, Mrs. Chapman, has always believed that a community is only as strong as the education within it, so when the opportunity arose to help school-aged children in South Africa, she knew she couldn’t turn it away.

Mrs. Chapman took a year-long leave of absence from Wilde Lake to volunteer with Mission Hope, an organization present in South Africa dedicated to helping less fortunate children there. The organization specializes in helping local communities through a preschool, a feeding program, and an orphanage. “The school systems are a lot different,” she said. “The public schools there suffer from a lack of resources, so volunteering is extremely beneficial to the community.”

Mission Hope has shaped how she runs her classroom. She now focuses more on developing interpersonal relationships. Every fourth period, she gives a snack to each student to, “help the dynamics of the classroom and build the community.”