An application submitted over the Internet and a phone interview landed University of Idaho junior Leah Schwisow a life-changing experience — a chance to volunteer at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
“I submitted my application to the Community Collaborations International (CCI) about a year ago,” Schwisow said, “It’s a non-profit organization that helps with international volunteerism.”

After she was accepted into the program, Schwisow visited China twice.  Her first trip was last summer for a training session.
“The training was more just cultural training,” she said. “We got to know Beijing’s subways and hotels in order to help with guest services.”
Schwisow was also able to visit Xi’an and Chengdu and volunteer at Panda Conservation.
“It was more of a tour-type trip,” she said, “Much different from the next trip.”

When Schwisow arrived in Beijing the second time, she was stationed at Casa Americas homestay base where she helped check badges and direct families.
“It was a Latin American base for families,” Schwisow said. “It was a rewarding job, but it got kind of repetitive after a while, so it was really awesome to get tickets to events.”

Schwisow was able to attend the gymnastics, diving and athletic events. She was also able to experience the Water Cube and Bird’s Nest stadiums.
“I was surrounded by athletes — I saw Michael Phelps and was able to watch the men’s and women’s gymnastics teams compete,” she said.
Along with being able to attend Olympic events, Schwisow immersed herself in the local culture, giving her a taste of the real Beijing.
“It’s such a fun culture,” she said. “The older culture is up in the mornings and is constantly active doing the samba or martial arts — they are always busy.”
Schwisow was able to live in an apartment in Beijing which backed her love of the tourism aspect of China.
Not only did Schwisow experience the culture first hand, she was able to volunteer at a special needs orphanage in Tianjin.
“I gave up beach volleyball tickets to go,” she said. “It was such a unique experience to connect with these kids.”
Schwisow played with the children and was able to practice her broken Chinese.
“To play and talk and love those kids was a really powerful part of the trip,” she said. “I could carry on a conversation with them and they were extremely enthusiastic about it.”

While visiting the orphanage, Schwisow and another girl helped paint a guest room where people came to adopt.
“While the kids were napping we helped paint, most of the rooms really needed renovation,” she said.
Schwisow, an international politics and political science major, had spent three weeks in Beijing and had close to 75 hours of volunteer work.  Her favorite part of the trip being the orphanage, Schwisow has thought about studying international law.
“The experience opened my eyes to a new life goal, I want to work with international adoption and help those kids,” she said.
Schwisow has another term as an ASUI senator, a large class load and plans to try out for the diving team.  

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