You may be familiar with those quotes, but seldom can you associate these quotes with those outstanding women behind them, not to mention the great work they did.

    “Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.”

—Anne Frank (1929 — 1945)

    Hiding from the German forces, Anne Frank, a young Jewish girl, was gifted a diary by her father when she was 13. However, her diary was published after her death in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the age of 15. The diary served as a unique eye-witness account of life during Holocaust (mass murder of about six million Jews during World War II) and it became one of the world's most read books.

    “Not all of us can do great things• But we can do small things with great love.”

—Mother Teresa (1910 — 1997)

    Mother Teresa, the Nobel Peace Prize winner (1979), aimed at looking after those children who had nobody to look after them through her own order “the Missionaries of Charity”. She worked tirelessly towards her goal until her ill-health forced her to step down in March 1997, after which she took her last breath in September 1997.

    “If you set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.”

—Margaret Thatcher (1925 — 2013)

    Margaret Thatcher was loved and hated equally for some of her policies but she never compromise (妥协). She was known as “the Iron Lady” for her leadership style. From being a grocer's daughter to graduating from Oxford University to becoming a banister, she went on to become Britain's first and to date, only female Prime Minister elected in 1979 and the country's fifth longest serving leader.

    “I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move.”

—Rosa Parks (1913 — 2005)

    Also known as “the first lady of civil rights”, Rosa Parks was a pioneer of civil rights in a racially segregated Alabama in 1950s. In 1955, she refused to give away her seat to a white passenger in a bus, disobeying the bus driver's orders. This act of hers sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott that crippled the state capital's public transport system.

Service Trips for High School Students

    Are you a high school student who loves to be outdoors and is eager to experience new challenges, learn new skills and meet new people? WTA offers first-time participants country trips and returning students have the option to go on trips in the back country (边远地区).

    Front Country Trips

    Our front country trips provide opportunities for people to experience projects near the ocean, in the scenic Cascade Mountains and in northeast Washington. Our trips also provide you with experienced leaders, a great project, some camping tents, sleeping bags and all your meals for the week.

    Advanced Back Country Trips

    On these trips you will be backpacking to the work site and will have a chance to advance your trail and leadership skills under the supervision(监护) of a WTA leader.

    Trip Details

    In 2015, trip fees for WTA members will be $195 for the first trip and $145 for each additional trip. Non-members will pay an additional $40 for their first trip and can be qualified to be members in the second trip. Due to the popularity of our trips, please submit your payment and application within two weeks. If a trip is full and you would like to be added to the waiting list, please call us at 206/625-1367 or email trail-teams@wta.org.

    Scholarships

    We believe no student should have to stay at home this summer because he or she can't afford to go outside. Thanks to donations from members and supporters, WTA is proud to announce that we are able to offer a limited number of scholarships. Application Deadline: May 1, 2016.

    It seems that in many places storms visit more often. When a storm is coming, most people leave the area as quickly as possible and head for safety. But there are a few people who will get into their cars and go straight for the center of the storm. These people are willing to risk being killed by floods or 100-kilometer-an-hour winds for the excitement of watching the storm close up.

    "Storm chasing" is becoming an increasingly popular hobby, especially in the Midwest of the United States, where there are frequent storms between March and July. A storm chaser begins the day by checking the Internet for the latest weather reports, and then drives up to 1,000 kilometers to where the storm will be and waits for it to develop.

    Although anyone can do it, storm chasing is extremely dangerous. The power of a big storm can throw a cow into the air or destroy a whole house in seconds. Storm chasers are also often hurt in accidents caused by driving in a heavy rain. If you are a beginner, it is much safer to join a group for storm-chasing vacations during the storm season.

    Even then, storm chasing is not all adventure and excitement. "Storm chasing is 95% driving," says Daniel Lynch, who spends most of his summer storm-chasing. "Sometimes you can sit around for hours waiting for something to happen, and all you get is blue sky and a few light showers."

    However, for storm chasers, it is all worth it. "When you get close to a storm, it is the most exciting sight you will ever see in your life," says Jasper Morley. "Every storm is an example of the power of nature. It is the greatest show on Earth."

    I had been living in a whirl: studying the organ at the University of Arizona, conducting a speech clinic in town, and teaching a class in musical appreciation at the Desert Willow Ranch, where I was staying. I was going to parties, dances, horseback rides under the stars. One morning I collapsed. My heart! “You will have to lie in bed for a year of complete rest,” the doctor said. He didn't encourage me to believe I would ever be strong again.

In bed for a year! To be invalid—perhaps to die! I was terror-stricken! Why did all this have to happen to me? What had I done to deserve it? I swept. I was bitter. But I did go to bed as the doctor advised. A neighbor of mine, Mr. Rudolf, an artist, said to me: “You think now that spending a year in bed will be a tragedy. But it won't be. You will have time to think and get acquainted with yourself. You will make more spiritual growth in these next few months than you have made during all your previous life.”

I became calmer, and tried to develop a new sense of values. I read books of inspiration. One day I heard a radio commentator say: “You can express only what is in your own consciousness.” I had heard the words like these many times before, but now they reached down inside me and took root. I determined to think only the thoughts I wanted to live by: thoughts of joy, happiness, health. I forced myself each morning, as soon as I awoke, to go over all the things I had to be grateful for. No pain. A lovely young daughter. My eyesight. My hearing. Lovely music on the radio. Time to read. Good food. Good friends. I was so cheerful and had so many visitors that the doctor put up a sign saying that only one visitor at a time would be allowed in my cabin—and only at certain hours.

    Nine years have passed since then, and I now lead a full, active life. I am deeply grateful now for that year I spent in bed. It was the most valuable and the happiest year I spent in Arizona. The habit I formed then of counting my blessings each morning still remains with me. It is one of my most precious possessions.

    Parents who help their children with homework may actually be bringing down their school grades. Other forms of parental involvement, including volunteering at school and observing a child's class, also fail to help, according to the most recent study on the topic.

    The findings challenge a key principle of modern parenting(养育子女) where schools expect them to act as partners in their children's education. Previous generations concentrated on getting children to school on time, fed, dressed and ready to learn.

    Keith Robinson, the author of the study, said, "I really don't know if the public is ready for this but there are some ways parents can be involved in their kids' education that leads to declines in their academic performance. One of the things that were consistently negative was parents' help with homework." Robinson suggested that may be because parents themselves struggle to understand the tasks. "They may either not remember the material their kids are studying now, or in some cases never learn it themselves, but they're still offering advice."

    Robinson assessed parental involvement performance and found one of the most damaging things a parent could do was to punish their children for poor marks. In general, about 20% of parental involvement was positive, about 45% negative and the rest statistically insignificant.

    Common sense suggests it was a good thing for parents to get involved because "children with good academic success do have involved parents", admitted Robinson. But he argued that this did not prove parental involvement was the root cause of that success. "A big surprise was that Asian American parents whose kids are doing so well in school hardly involved. They took a more reasonable approach, conveying to their children how success at school could improve their lives."

     Here are opportunities for international student volunteers. You can apply your academic training to overall development programs in service. Group service options are explained here.