Profiles: BHS senior spends summer working with AIDS charity in Ethiopia

Many students dream of traveling the world and experiencing new and exciting cultures and for Bearden senior Elizabeth Gore, the dream came true, thanks to the Awesome Adam Adventures scholarship.

The scholarship funded both Gore and Jake Grayson (story to come next week) in their travels abroad this summer. Gore chose to travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia through an organization called Mission of the World with the Ethiopia Act Project created for AIDS care and treatment.

Awesome Adam Adventures is named in memory of former Bearden student Adam Wise who passed away in a car accident the summer before his senior year.

“Adam’s grandmother called me to tell me that I got it,” Gore said. “It was at the end of fourth period, and I didn’t know the number, but I’m glad I took the call.”

The $1,000 was a huge boon for Gore who confessed that she probably wouldn’t have been able to go if not for the extra help.

The trip itself was eight days long, and Gore was part of the non-medical team that helped put on a Vacation Bible School for kids ranging from 4-18 at a church on the outskirts of the city. After their morning of VBS and crafts, they would go outside and play soccer or with some bubbles, and after lunch, they would help tutor the kids in English.

It sounds pretty familiar. Many Bearden students have probably participated in some summer camp that did many of the same things, but it wasn’t the activities that struck Gore most, but the children that did them.

“I loved that even though the kids didn’t even know us for that long, they trusted us,” Gore said. “They would just run up and hug us and love on us without even knowing us because I guess they knew we were there to help them.”

The Awesome Adam scholarship has gained steam among Bearden students for providing rising seniors with an opportunity to experience a complete break from their culture these past three years, and it did nothing less for Gore.

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