International travelers
Three Franklin College juniors Rachel Friedman, Megan Mattingly and Amanda Wray packed their suitcases, put the finishing touches on their leadership project and boarded their plane to New York. A brief layover and nearly a day later, they stepped out of the plane and into Prague.
Their sophomore year, the three women began a leadership project about leadership skills at Franklin College using information from the summer 2008 flood. When Friedman, Mattingly and Wray received word that they’d been chosen for an International Leadership Association conference, they were overcome with surprise.
The leadership conference consisted of the students attending an opening session that included a key speaker or a panel, then the students could choose from seven to fifteen different panels to attend, lunch, and then two or three final sessions.
"It was a very inspiring conference because you see all of these older people who are so involved in leadership and so accomplished in leadership," Mattingly said. "You just want to come back, and you just want to make a difference."
All three students said the conference benefitted them in several ways including networking and learning about and improving leadership skills.
"Going to the conference really opened up my eyes to all of the possibilities that I have by studying leadership," Wray said. "To have professors asking me to e-mail them because they want to know about what I am saying, I felt that I brought something to the table that normally students may not feel like they have."
The research abstract was sent to the International Leadership Association and the three students were invited to attend the conference in Prague from Nov. 7 to the 15.
Franklin College faculty members Doug Grant and Bonnie Pribush were also invited to attend. They stayed in the Hotel Pyramida in Prague and attended the conference from Wednesday to Sunday.
The days before the conference involved sightseeing for the students. The students went to a castle, cathedral, various museums and a Jewish synagogue.
Perhaps the most influential part of the trip was the history behind the country itself.
"To be somewhere where the Holocaust actually affected people was just life changing." Friedman said.
"Eighty thousand Prague Jews died during the Holocaust and World War II. You hear that number and you realize it is a lot, but in the synagogue there’s four rooms and every wall in all four of these rooms are filled with the names," Mattingly said.
Sightseeing was not the only new experience for the students. The culture of Prague differs from that of America.
"It’s not a culture shock, but it’s a definite change," Mattingly said.
Along with the lifestyle in Prague, the food dishes of Prague were also different.
Friedman said the pizza had eggs on it and dumplings were made of bread and did not include broth or chicken. Portion sizes also differed from what the women were used to.
Wray noted another difference among the lifestyle of Czechs.
"No one is in a huge hurry to get things done," she said.
