By: KSU Sports Information
As part of her academic curricula, freshman soccer player Julia Nelson traveled to Brazil with fellow Kennesaw State University students over Spring Break to apply their classroom knowledge and skills in a real-life setting. Below, she writes about her eye-opening experience, in her own words.
“Brazil was just absolutely incredible. I had a great time actually seeing the 7 Revolutions and climbing waterfalls, seeing sea turtles, and having dance parties. Exploring the diverse culture of Brazil was amazing.
"My favorite activity of the week was meeting some students of a Co-op group created to help improve the lives of agricultural families and communities in need of assistance. Young people were leaving for the big cities to start their life leaving their crumbling families and communities behind. Something had to be done, so “Casa Familia Rural” was created. A hand-picked group of students from various communities were chosen to study at this school so that when they returned home, they could convince their village and families that new agricultural techniques and technologies could improve their yield, and thus their income. We travelled to the rural areas of Bahia to learn about this organization and the view was absolutely stunning. It looked exactly how I imagined it would be: huge sloping hills of endless green, like a jungle.
"We also visited the home town of well-known musician Carlinhos Brown, the musician of the soundtrack from the Disney movie “Rio.” He lived in a community called Candeal. It was an extremely poor community that sprung up in the middle of a middle class area. Brown began working with a percussion group called “Olodum” and started a music school named “Pracatum,” dedicated to improving the lives of his home community by teaching English classes as well as music. We learned how even a poor community (known as a favela) can come out of poverty, but they are not nearly as well off as many others are.
These two experiences really stood out to me. They caused me to rethink about what I want to do with my life. After seeing what many people lives are truly like, I have this nagging urge to help these people. It has caused me to consider a profession abroad, perhaps in Brazil, to help those in need."
Nelson will present her thoughts with her classmates to President Papp in a presentation scheduled for April.
