Junior Sydney Elisei has always loved to travel. At age three, she joined a Semester At Sea program and sailed around the world, visiting different countries aboard the ship. Two years ago, she found herself biking and paragliding through the Atlas Mountains with her family, and only a year after that, she was on a flight to Portugal.
Marissa Elisei, Sydney Elisei’s mom, is an avid supporter of her daughter’s activities, and often provides the help needed to make her ambitions come true.
“She’s at maybe 30 countries by now,” Marissa said. “And it’s pretty crazy to think about. We’ve been everywhere from Japan, to China and Singapore, down around all the way to South Africa and up to Morocco.”
Each of her experiences have influenced and grown Sydney’s passion for traveling throughout the years.
“She says yes to most opportunities, and she’s very willing to give things at least a try, to save up, and just go and have fun,” Marissa said.
So, due to her spontaneous spirit, when Sydney received an invitation to go on a medical mission trip to Honduras next semester, at the Hospital Socorro de lo Alto, she accepted the offer excitedly.
“Around 30 years ago, my grandpa started the program,” Sydney said. “He’s been talking about it more recently and his time there–seeing people’s different ways of life and how they deal with medical issues.”
Besides just pure passion and love for travel, Sydney has other motives for taking the trip.
“I’m pretty good at [speaking] Spanish, and that’s how they mainly communicate [there]. So it could help me with my Spanish skill as well. Sort of like a life lesson,” Sydney said.
Sydney’s sense of independence and cultural way of life motivates her to take new opportunities going forward, expanding her knowledge of Spanish to communicate with the people in Honduras.
“I’ll definitely focus more on Spanish, especially because I’m hoping [to] minor in Spanish one day,” Sydney said. “I’m in AP Spanish [Language] right now, [so] I’ve been taking the class for a long time, too.”
Despite that being her primary objective, her end goal for the trip is to learn more about Honduras and gain an irreplaceable experience. Her mission may be life-changing, but it will be far from her last adventure.
“I think this will impact me indefinitely for the future,” Sydney said. “Just seeing how other people live, learning about them, the difference in our lifestyles–it’s stunning. I can’t wait.”
