“I decided that I did not want my arrival home to be the last of my contributions within the Moshi School.”
–Hollie Brosky
Name: Hollie Brosky
Hometown: Brigantine, NJ
Education: Atlantic City High School
Passions and Interests: Helping others, yoga, and spending time with friends and family
Transformational Experience: Tanzania: Children’s Education Adventure (formerly Heart & Soul of Africa™)
Making an Impact: Started Twisty for Tanzania yoga classes at her high school to raise money for the Tanzania Moshi Primary School where she volunteered on her GLA program
A year ago, Hollie Brosky was just a normal high school junior with a schedule full of classes, part-time work, and extracurricular activities. Like any other soon-to-be-senior, she was thinking about her future — college, choosing a major, potential career paths — but there was one, more immediate thing she wanted to accomplish while still in high school, and that was to volunteer abroad.
Knowing that teen volunteer abroad trips had become increasingly popular in recent years, Hollie began her research and discovered GLA’s Africa programs. She knew right away that the Tanzania: Children’s Education Adventure (formerly Heart & Soul of Africa™) would be the perfect fit for her.
Fast forward a few months, and Hollie had arrived in the Tanzanian village of Moshi, where she and her fellow GLA students would spend the next two weeks teaching English at a local primary school, as well as working to refurbish and improve the condition of the classrooms.
When she returned home from her GLA trip, Hollie was full of happiness and felt proud of all the work and positive change she and her peers accomplished during their two weeks in Tanzania. But, on the other hand, she also felt a sense of sadness because she knew the Moshi school needed more work, and she was no longer there to help.
While working at the Moshi School, we were refurbishing three classrooms. However, I couldn’t help but notice that in order to not only improve, but to sanitize their learning environment(s), there was a lot more work that needed to be done to multiple more classrooms.”
So Hollie decided that even being home in New Jersey, she could still find a way to help the Moshi School, and she was determined to figure out thow to make it happen. After some brainstorming, Hollie came upon the idea of offering after-school yoga classes because yoga was a passion of hers and at the time, it wasn’t offered at her high school.
Within a short time, Hollie’s idea had come to fruition and Twisty for Tanzania was born. The donation-based classes are offered once a month and are led by Hollie’s older sister Colette, who happens to be a yoga instructor. The first class was held on December 6th 2017 on Hollie’s high school campus.
She set up a donation table in front with a personal note explaining her cause and where the donations would be going. She also displayed several photos from her GLA trip so that participants could see the exact school and children that their donations would be helping.
Although she wasn’t sure of what to expect, that first Twisty for Tanzania yoga class ended up drawing in 50+ participants, and they raised over $150 — in just one day! After seeing first-hand how many students wanted to participate, and were willing to donate to the cause, Hollie knew right away that she’d be able to raise enough money to make a significant impact at the Moshi school.
My goal is to raise $1,000 by the end of the school year, all of which will go directly towards making more improvements within the Moshi school, and more specifically the classrooms.”
We asked Hollie what advice she would give to other teens to encourage them to explore the world outside of their comfort zone. She had these wonderful thoughts to share:
Step outside of the Hollywood-centered, materialistic, egocentric society — the world has more to offer! Do something more. Be something more. Add to the world you are living in. Make a lasting impact and meaningful connections, for they are what makes this life truly wonderful!”
Program Hollie attended:
GLA Tanzania: Children’s Education Adventure (formerly Heart & Soul of Africa™)
Curious about exploring your own GLA adventure? Check these out:
- GLA Ghana: Foundations of Global Health™
- GLA South Africa: Social Change Project™
- GLA South Africa: Safari Service Expedition™
