Senior Profile: Molly Caldwell

Trading in her bedroom window view of rolling Kansas hills for that of Table Mountain, senior Molly Caldwell will move 8,776 miles away from home to live in Capetown, South Africa.

While in Capetown, Molly will work with other college-aged kids for an internship at the Scalabrini Center that assists refugees from Zimbabwe, Congo, Somalia and Rwanda. Although her jobs will be varied, she will mostly focus on helping refugees prepare resumes and get jobs. This kind of service is something she has always been passionate about.

“I’m also interning this summer at Catholic charities here in Kansas City, so this is something I really want to do,“ Molly said. “I really want to become a non profit manager and I think these  opportunities will help me get involved.”

For Molly, the decision to join this program was fairly simple. After having watched other seniors do similar things, Molly’s mom suggested she find a program that she could be a part of. Molly found a website that offered internships to teens in Argentina or South Africa, and she chose South Africa.

“As soon as my mom suggested it I was pretty excited that my parents would consider something like that,” Molly said. “So I pretty much jumped at the opportunity to travel.”

Having traveled to places like Australia and Mexico herself, Jackie Caldwell was completely behind Molly’s decision. Both of Molly’s parents believe that if you are given an opportunity to travel when you are young, you should take it. Mrs. Caldwell also believed that Molly needed a break after a rigorous schedule.

“She has been in IB these past two years which has been pretty intense and we just thought it would be good for her to take a break and go do something different before she dove into college,” Jackie said.

Molly and her parents will split the cost. She will be responsible for paying for her extra excursions and trips and her parents will pay for the housing and flight. These extra excursions include anything from surf lessons to back country safaris. Despite the extensive amount of research that Molly has been doing in regards to what Capetown and the excursions are like, she is still nervous.

“I’m pretty nervous about not knowing anyone going into the program and I won’t know who my roommate is until like a month before,” Molly said. “And I’m nervous for the flight which  is like 30 hours.”

When Caldwell returns from South Africa in December, she will begin school at Saint Louis University (SLU) with a double major in International Business and International Studies. She will be able to graduate on time due to her previously-earned credits through IB. With a friend already enrolled at SLU, Caldwell and her parents are confident in her decision that she will be able to transition smoothly from Africa back to the United States.

“When she gets to Saint Louis, I think it will seem like nothing to her after being in South Africa,” Jackie said.