From South Africa to China, India and beyond, nineteen-year-old Chloe Lewis has trekked the world on behalf of numerous organizations.  She has worked in an orphanage in China’s Anhui province, participated in the AIDS Walk Africa in both South Africa and Tanzania, organized a book drive to provide children in India with a library, and received the Presidential Daily Points of Light award.  And those are only a few of her achievements.

Chloe first became acquainted with Concordia Language Villages through Sabrina Cohen, now a Chinese Language Village dean, who was Chloe’s Chinese teacher at the Latin School of Chicago. Chloe attended Sēn Lín Hú and found that learning language changed for her forever. “I liked it in high school but never realized how far I could go.  You can’t really learn a language until you’re immersed in it.  The Language Villages really helped cultivate my independence.”

Chloe organized a major book drive her freshman year in college, which turned out to be so successful that she traveled to India in July to help start a library and build a schoolroom.  “Service is a big part of my life, but I would like to branch out in the kind of service I do,” Chloe elaborated.

Headed into her sophomore year at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, Chloe doesn’t see any reason to slow down.  “I want to show kids internationally that service can be a part of life; it really does only take one person to change the world.”

Since her time at the Language Villages, Chloe has accomplished things most people don’t do in a lifetime.  Her feature in Teen People magazine stemmed from the extensive work and time she put into the AIDS Walk Africa campaign.  Chloe’s newest endeavor is her work with Citta, a non-profit organization devoted to “making a difference against indifference,” in India.

Chloe’s advice to current villagers and staff: “Learning the language is the first step to breaking down barriers.  Keep pushing yourself to become an ambassador for change.  This is our time.”