Kendall Burchard, a ninth-grader from Reno, Nevada, was forever changed during her Exploring Western Europe program last year. This experience led to her becoming one of our six 2008 Ambassadors of the Year. Kendall was chosen from many inspiring students who were nominated by their delegation leaders. Her natural leadership abilities and community service, along with her commitment to pre-travel preparation and promotion of the People to People mission in her community, helped her stand out among her peers. Kendall will receive a full-tuition scholarship this year to explore the Land of the Rising Sun program.
Below you will find an excerpt from Kendall’s amazing essay beautifully describing the impact of her visit to the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in France.
“That day, I learned of grief and its heart-wrenching consequences. As someone who has never faced death with a loved one, I learned how one can feel such compassion for one beneath the earth, even if one’s identity is lost to all but God. That day I learned how truly united the American people are and will continue to be, expressed by a handful of teenagers coming together under our flag to mourn and to find solace within each other’s welcoming arms. For the first time in memory, I saw people truly come together as one, united in feelings of loss and insignificance, and united in the sudden realization of the world and its horrid past.
I believe in my heart that this was an experience that will forever change me as a person, for I believe that this experience opened my eyes to the evils and beauties of the world and transformed me from a blind child into the aware young adult I am today. I now see how in the cold depths of grief and loss a beautiful sense of togetherness can emerge. I realize that dreams once so cherished by a generation, seemingly forgotten and put aside, can be rekindled in the next, wishing with renewed fervor for the seemingly unattainable goal of peace. Most of all, I am changed in my opinion of the human race; I now realize that all members of the human race contain some act of goodness or kindness within them, and when called forth people can put aside all differences and unite under one nation, one flag, one event. And in this way, in this process, we can one by one make the world into our vision of peace.”
Kendall’s experience truly represents President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s message of peace through understanding.
