During the summer of 2024, the Sedona-Oak Creek Canyon Lions Club sponsored a student exchange program that sent Verde Valley School students Teo Dickey and Neve Gebhardt and Northern Arizona University student Natalia Wilson to Italy while hosting Italian students Gianmarco Godino and Anchea Donati in the Sedona area. 

“Teo’s a delight; he is incredibly outgoing, friendly,” VVS Head of School Ben Lee said. “Because we’re a school with kids from all over the world, sometimes we talk about certain kids as being like glue because they [connect] the international kids together with the American kids, and he’s one of those. And a top-notch basketball player, captain of our basketball team … he’s our first-string soccer goalie and is great on the soccer field.”

Dickey said the opportunity to travel to Italy helped him improve his communication skills and that he is thinking of enrolling at the University of Arizona in the fall, majoring in business or marketing.

“[If] I go into international marketing or business, I would need to communicate cross-culturally, so this experience helped develop those skills. It would be harder to communicate if I hadn’t had that practice in the future,” Dickey said.

“But sometimes my Italian isn’t very good, so I had to work around that. I had to use some Google Translate. But the whole trip was really cool. I started off with the host family, and I was with them for about a week. And we were in a farm in the south about an hour away from Milan. I learned how to cook some Italian dishes such as carbonara.”

Dickey’s trip included a visit to a local farm in southern Italy and some of the galleries in Florence. He said that one particularly striking moment for him was seeing Sandro Botticelli’s 15th-century painting “The Birth of Venus” at the Uffizi Gallery.

“I’ve always been interested in Italian culture and I recommend that other students look at doing their own cultural exchanges like this. It’s just great to help your character as you’re immersing yourself in a different culture,” Dickey said. “By trying new things, getting out of your comfort zone, it helps you grow as a person, and it’s a lot of fun, and you make life on memories and lifelong friends from it.”

Dickey plans to run track and field this spring at VVS.

“Being part of a team like the soccer and basketball teams have been really fun and really special,” Dickey said. “Also the field trips here are a great experience. They’re a great challenge, and they help grow my character.  As an example, three years ago I went to Utah on a camping trip with the school, and it was like the coldest I’ve ever been in my life, but it taught me to be grateful for the warmth and comfort I have at home.”

VVS and the Lions Club will again be partnering to provide prescription eyeglasses clinics at several locations in Malawi once the school year is completed. The club also provides college scholarships to graduating seniors and anyone 18and older is invited to join. Those interested can contact the club at (928) 282-4126.