Bill Taylor, School President, Blogs from Peru

Greetings from Peru! I am in this beautiful country as part of a board of educators who are advising an international educational company about service learning and 21st century skills. To this end, I am certainly talking about the many ways that St. George’s students and faculty employ these skills in a variety of ways. This is a magnificent part of the world, and the Andes mountains are unlike anything that I have seen before. The people are especially warm and engaging.

We spent some time today visiting a service learning project that brings college students to a village near Cuzco to help the villagers improve the healthy conditions in their homes. It was a good reminder about how little things can have a big impact. The volunteers were fabulous and were working in complete collaboration with the villagers. We also visited a textile workcenter, where they make woolen fabrics based the way that has been passed down since the Incas. Similarly, we also visited an artist who works with clay as a means to describe the cohesive unity of the world of the Andes and the heritage of the Incas. He described his life’s passion of working with clay in the following way: “I do not work so that I can sell. I sell so that I can work.” What a marvelous perspective on life!

Tomorrow, we visit Machu Picchu.

Bill Taylor, School President

St. George’s Independent School