West Philadelphia students head to Ghana for 10-day learning trip connecting lessons to history

A group of students from West Philadelphia is embarking on a trip they'll never forget — a 10-day learning excursion to Ghana, designed to connect classroom lessons to real-world history.

Twenty students from the Global Leadership Academy are traveling to West Africa as part of the school's long-running international learning program, which founder Dr. Naomi Johnson Booker says is meant to expand students' worldviews and strengthen their sense of identity.

"This is like the pinnacle of what we do and where we are because going to Ghana, we're now going home," Booker said. "We have gone to the Bahamas for a number of years and we see the point of entry. Now we are going to see the door of no return. So the children will see, the scholars will see the connection between home and where they brought us into the Americas."

Before leaving, students gathered in a circle at school to perform the Kenyan tradition of Harambee, meaning "all pull together," a moment that set the tone for what many described as a meaningful journey.

Dr. Booker says these trips are about more than sightseeing — they are designed to immerse students in culture, history and global community.

"My scholars need to be global so that they can understand the world, and most of them live in a 10-block radius. So we want to get them out of that radius, show them the world so they can be global citizens, so they can take their mark on the world, so they can be those young people who then grow up to be able to take on city council and the presidency and so on," Booker said. "That's how you prepare the winner, young."

Over the years, students at Global Leadership Academy have taken educational trips to places including China, Jamaica and Kenya. Last year, eighth graders traveled to the Bahamas, where they visited historic sites and attended presentations focused on the Atlantic slave trade.