Last academic year, Secondary Students participated in ‘World Challenge’, the leading provider of life-changing school expeditions. Over 27 years' of organising student trips abroad gives them the global reach, vision and resources to create bespoke educational programmes, tailored to each team’s objectives, accompanied by 24-hr Operational Support whilst teams are in-country.

This year, a team of secondary students travelled to India, Koti and set off on the Brighu Lake Trek. A Year 12 student gave her account on the eye-opening experience.

Hello! My name is Margaux and I am in Year 12. I took part in the World Challenge last June and I feel it was the best experience of my life! There are no words to describe what the team and I went through and I could only recommend to do it yourself to fully understand the amazing adventure it was.

We stayed in India for three weeks and did so much travelling and saw many incredible things. During the first week, we spent time working on a project in a local school with children and this really was my favourite part of the trip. The boys built a wall that we painted. It was touching to see the children so enthusiastic and it made me realise that, in life, people around me complain for small problems which are not worth the importance given to them.

The second week was the trek in the Himalayas which in itself was not very hard, but doing it during the monsoon season made it quite uncomfortable as it was very cold and wet at night. We had more time to relax and rest during the last week of the trip when we took a train to Jaipur and went on an elephant ride which had always been one of my dreams. We also saw the Taj Mahal in Agra at sunrise, it was truly stunning!

These three weeks went so fast and I still miss all the exceptional people I met and the good moments shared with them. To be honest, there were times when I asked myself what I was doing there as the conditions were sometimes hard and being faced to such poverty was a totally new experience for me but ‘World Challenge’ is for sure the experience of a lifetime and I would encourage anyone to do it. I myself was not too keen on going at first but I am grateful to all the people who gave me the strength to finally decide to be part of it.

I feel I could write so much more about it but words would just not be enough to describe the sensational experience I lived. Just do it!

By Margaux, Year 12