Every year, we have the privilege of watching students grow into global citizens, curious, compassionate, and ready to make a difference far beyond their hometowns. This spring, we’re celebrating a remarkable group of seniors who leave us with passports stamped, communities changed, and futures pointing somewhere meaningful. We sat down with two of them to hear their stories.
Sara Franco
Needham High School · Panama & Guatemala · Heading to Elon University
As a freshman, when Sara first heard about School the World, the idea of leaving the country with strangers to build things in a rural community felt like too big a leap. By junior year, something had shifted. She attended an information session, brought a friend, and signed up, and that decision changed everything.
Her first trip brought her to Panama, where a rooming assignment mix-up on night one turned a stranger into one of her closest friends. Kenley, a sophomore who didn’t know anyone, ended up bunking with Sara and her friend Caitlin. By the end of the week, they were already planning to go back.
Guatemala the following year brought its own memories. At a local market, Sara and her friend Nina befriended a young boy named Romero who sold them handmade bookmarks that Sara still keeps in her room. Sara, Caitlin, and Kenley were roommates together once again.
Sara grew up visiting family in the Dominican Republic and had seen poverty her whole life, in the cities, in the rural areas where her grandparents were raised. But she’ll tell you there’s a difference between witnessing it and actually doing something about it. “I think there’s a perspective that if you’re living in poverty or in Latin America, you are somehow different,” she said. “But these kids have the same goals, the same hopes. To actually help them try to accomplish that was really, really cool.”
That perspective has shaped where she’s headed. Sara is enrolled at Elon University, where she plans to study international relations, inspired in part by a class she’s already taking called World in Transition, which traces the historical roots of current global events. She’s also already recruiting. After a recent school play, she sent a full paragraph to the cast group chat about School of the World. At least one person has already asked how to sign up.
Mia Peeples
Cohasset High School · Guatemala (twice) & Panama · Heading to University of Michigan
Mia heard about School of the World the way a lot of things start: a teacher mentioned it in Spanish class. She was a freshman. She signed up, went to Guatemala, and came back committed to getting her whole school involved the next time.
What set Mia apart wasn’t just that she kept coming back. It’s what she built along the way. Together with her close friend Nora, Mia founded the School of the World chapter at Cohasset High School. With support from her Spanish teacher Señora Nelson and English teacher Ms. Crimmins, she organized fundraisers, ran babysitting events through Cohasset Recreation, recruited teacher chaperones, and got two full school-sponsored trips off the ground. She’s now handing off the club and movement she’s built to students ready to carry it forward.
A conversation with a Peace Corps volunteer on one of her trips left a mark that never faded. “That conversation specifically shaped what I want to do after college,” she said. Mia is heading to the University of Michigan to study history and international studies, with a focus on Spanish-speaking countries. She passed the Seal of Biliteracy this year and has the Peace Corps in her sights. Michigan’s strong alumni pipeline was part of why she chose it.
She also wrote a college supplemental essay about a child she met in Guatemala who dreamed of becoming an astronaut. The essay was about using the opportunities she’d been given to their fullest, because not everyone gets them.
When asked what surprised her most looking back, Mia didn’t talk about a building or a meal. She talked about feeling free. A week away from the scroll, from the noise, from the ordinary rhythm of life. “I just want to live more like that in the future,” she said.
Mia is passing the Cohasset chapter on to a group of freshmen who traveled with us this spring.
A special thank you to our Class of 2026 School the World ambassadors: Mia P., Nora E., Alyssa K., Ella G., Lelia A., Sara F., Amiyah F., Ryan K., Joel A., Sofia S., Becky W., Sammy D., Katherine M., Avelina C., Ella R., Adrianna L., Serafina R., Indigo B., Grace F., Giacomo T., Stella M., Charli S., Maya S., Izabelle D., Maya W., Anna C., and Helena W.
To the Class of 2026 who traveled, served, fundraised, and showed up: the world needs what you’ve got. We can’t wait to see where that takes you. Stay in touch.
