Lily Keller Becoming More Globally Competent

Lily Keller Grad at Grad Talk -- Becoming More Globally Competent May 1, 2017 Hi everyone! For those who do not know me, I’m Lily Keller and I am so honored to be the first student to speak on becoming more Globally Competent. I have been to 45 countries in my life and I can remember every single trip that I have taken. I remember going back to my hometown in China and seeing where I came from. I also remember my stay in a Maori village learning about their tribe as well as my trip to Peru where I camped on a mountain and climbed Machu Picchu. But my most recent trip to Tanzania was the most memorable to me. Not only did this trip give me an opportunity to learn about another culture and bring those stories back with me, it also helped me boost my confidence in myself.

On my trip to Tanzania I had a wonderful time and it was a great experience for me to be immersed into the culture there. I visited a Maasai tribe while on the way to the place where my mom and I met up with the rest of the group. At the village, I learned that the tribe is a nomadic tribe and that the women build everything. The houses are built so that they can be taken down at a moment's notice. I also learned that their diet consists of red meat from the cattle that they herd and they can live to be 90 years old! Now, I wasn’t there just to experience the country, I was also there to climb Mount Kilimanjaro. While climbing, I got the chance to meet, climb, and be in the company of a group of people who I hope will be life-long friends. Some of them are from New York but more are from Tanzania and Kenya. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to have met and climbed with them. Now, you may be asking yourself, "what does climbing a mountain have to do with Loyola and my time here." Well, I’ll tell you.

During the summer going into my junior year, I went on the Junior Leadership Camp.

Even though the camp lasted only a few days, I learned so much about myself and who I can be. The program taught me many leadership skills that I can take anywhere with me, like how to help others over a wall that had no ledges. We were able to help each other figure out how to run and reach up to grab another's person’s hand at the right time so they could lift you up.

Little did I know that these leadership skills would help me climb the highest mountain in Africa.

During the early days of climbing, I didn’t see how I could help my fellow climbers climb their best. But once we got to the fourth, fifth, and sixth day I suddenly saw it. The 8-9 hour walks turned into climbing up and down rocks for 8-9 hours. I began to use my walking sticks to help me walk rather than doing some matrix stunts. I began to help my friends by giving them encouraging words like, “Maway said camp is only 3 hours away! We’re 1/2 way there! We can do it guys!” This became a habit of mine until the 6th day, saddle day. While we were walking the saddle, I became more and more discouraged as we went along. The saddle is between two mountain peaks, Mawenzi and Kibo, and has thinner air than we are used to so everything looks so much closer than it actually is. When we were walking, I could see the camp so clearly but as the hours went by, it didn’t come any closer. But, my friend Sascha walked with me and gave me words of encouragement. This moved me because of the support he was willing to give me when he was struggling to walk himself.

Sasha wasn’t the only one to help me along the way to the top. Ann, Happiness, Diana, Elias, William, Maat, and Ericka helped me just as much. They helped me learn and understand how strong my mind is and how strong I am as a person. We would have tea time and dinner

together and we would laugh until we fell over. We would tell stories about our lives at home and came to realize how our lives are very similar. We come from different places but we all have something in common whether it is our taste in music or how similar our families are. Ann would talk about her two kids and Elias would tell us about his dream to be in the radio business. But, there is one more person who was on the trip that I truly look up to. That person is my friend Morgan.

Morgan and I always fooled around and teased each other. We had this joke with each other where we would stick our tongues out at each other while we walked. I thought it was just an inside game between us but it really helped me the night that we summited. Around the middle of the climb, I was having trouble catching my breath and staying awake. Morgan was right in front of me and whenever he would want to check to see if I was okay, he would make a noise and I would have to do it back to let him know that I was okay. Sometimes, I wouldn’t be feeling okay and he offered me some of his water (since mine had frozen) and he gave me two pieces of chocolate to boost my energy a bit. His generosity and kindness showed leadership in the best way that I could think of and we celebrated at the top of the mountain.

Now that the trip is over, I talk to them over WhatsApp, an international text message app. We talk about our lives back at home. I update them on my college decisions and Ann will tell me about her kids, Morgan will talk to me about his boxing club, Ericka tells me about her work, Maat and Sascha they just brighten my day with our conversations, and Elias tells me about how his podcast is going and I listen to it every week. I am truly grateful to have met them on this wonderful trip. Loyola has taught me how to communicate with others and how to build bridges with other cultures and I believe that is exactly what I’ve accomplished. In addition, the skills that I learned at the Junior Leadership Camp helped me not only to get me through tough situations, they prepared me to help others to get through tough situations

as well. The skills that I have learned will take me around the world when I need to help others who are in need. I can lead people in the right direction and start making my mark on the world. Thank you.