In July, the Sedona-Oak Creek Canyon Lions Club sponsored a three-week cultural exchange program between Verde Valley School students Neve Gebhardt and Teo Dickey and Northern Arizona University undergraduate Natalia Wilson and Italian students Gianmarco Godino and Anchea Donati.
“I was in Italy from July 6 through 28 this summer,” Gebhardt wrote in an email. “I did charity work for dogs [and for the] blind, and traveled all around Italy to Camposampiero, Milan, Venice, Bolzano, Verona, Padua, Egna, Alpe di Siusi and Renon.”
From Southern California, Gebhardt is a boarding student at VVS who is considering enrolling at Massey University in New Zealand or Montana State University to study equine sciences. Gebhardt said that her experience in Italy helped shape her professional expectations.
“I went to a farm down in Lugo di Vicenza and saw all the cattle and horses, which reminded me of all the hard work that it takes to manage and run a farm like that, so it just reminded me that it’s going to be hard work in the future but I’m sure I can do it,” Gebhardt said.
She also said that a highlight of her trip was the friendships she formed.
“Many of them I would have never met, but because I had the opportunity to go to this camp, I was able to be myself and make friends from all around the world, to which I still speak to this day,” Gebhardt said.
“It was the first time that [Neve] traveled internationally on her own, and she actually went to visit one of her classmates for 10 days in Switzerland, and traveled around with her friend,” her mother Celeste Gebhardt said. “It gave her a greater maturity level coming out of that trip, and her confidence from being able to navigate international travel and almost missing connections, all that sort of stuff that can happen, was great for her.”
Neve Genardt is the VVS senior class president, helps organize school events and is also a member of the National Charity League with her mother.
“Here at home, because she lives in Manhattan Beach, she is in her sixth year of National Charity League, which is a mother-daughter service organization,” Celeste Gebhardt said “We volunteer with different nonprofits and do tasks … built a library for an elementary school, or go to the senior center.”
Neve Gebhardt said that she would encourage other students to sign up for the Lions Club’s exchange program and thanked Sandy Immerso from the Lions Club and Caroline Diel for administering the program.
“The trip showed me things that I didn’t know about myself and has made me even more excited to keep traveling the world, experiencing new cultures,” Gebhardt said, although she also mentioned the shock of discovering that drinking water wasn’t free in Italy.
“It was quite horrible when I was walking around in Bolzano on a blazing hot day and I couldn’t ask for a free water from a restaurant,” Gebhardt said.
“[Gebhart] is an amazing and wonderful student originally from Los Angeles,” VVS Head of School Ben Lee said. “She is a senior this year and an amazing person, equestrian, a great student and just an all solid, all-around kid.”
“The Lions Club have been a great partner for VVS and the community,” Lee continued. “They are committed to helping people with vision problems, and so they have, for years, supported VVS with eyeglass drives, which then we bring to Malawi and distribute at free vision clinics that are held in various villages around the country.”
The Sedona Oak Creek Canyon Lions Club provides college scholarships to graduating seniors. Anyone 18 and older is invited to join the club. Those interested can contact the club at (928) 282-4126.
