South Africa Round Square International Service Project 2025

By Max van Someren '27 and Elsie Chamberlain '26

Gurnoop, Max, and Elsie represented Cate at the 2025 Round Square International Service Project in South Africa. Alongside a team of around 45 other students, they spent 2 weeks living at the Tiger Kloof school in Vryburg, South Africa. They stayed in this prestigious boarding school's dorm rooms and engaged with local students and faculty. 

One cultural aspect of the trip included dance and music classes with local residents, and they were amazed by their marimba (an instrument) skills. The students and faculty were divided into five groups called Barazas, where they would discuss, reflect on their days, and participate in construction tasks together. Aside from getting to know the other students, they spent most of their days at the work site of the Créche. Every day, a member of each Baraza group would serve as the leader, meeting with the project workers in the mornings and providing instructions to their respective group. Although their natural construction abilities were not particularly high, every student leader did an outstanding job of translating complex tasks into enjoyable accomplishments. The days would look like collecting rocks from the river, digging soil, mixing cement, cleaning trash, raking, designing, and buying snacks from the nearby corner store.  

ELSIE

I signed up for the 2025 Round Square International Service Project because I wanted to go somewhere I had never been and make a lasting impact with the help of students from around the world. I knew multiple countries would be represented on this trip; however, I was surprised to meet people from over 17 countries. Making friends and hearing each person's unique perspectives on global and social issues made me realize how much diversity is in our world, and most importantly, how important it is to build bridges that connect people who live so far apart. 

Driving through Vryburg and working in this community-oriented locality each day opened my eyes to a few things. We live in a world that is more advanced than many places, and the plethora of resources we have access to allows us to build and innovate extremely fast, which we often take for granted. Yet, despite our technological advances, there’s something we could learn from the people of Vryburg: their warmth, friendliness, and the way they treat everyone like family—something I wish we at home would do more often. Our generation can make an incredible impact on our world if we are dedicated to being leaders and—more importantly—collaborators. I am sure of this because we attended a celebratory ceremony on the last day and witnessed multiple individuals share their appreciation for our work. I am so grateful to be a part of this fantastic team, and I encourage every Cate student to do the same! 

MAX

One of the most gratifying feelings is discovering something you genuinely enjoy that you had never considered. It feels like gaining a new power that you never had access to. For me, this feeling stemmed from travelling across the world to do service for the benefit of others. Discovering that I enjoyed making an impact in a community left me excited for each day of work, as the opportunity was something I had never experienced before. Compounding my sense of discovery, exploring new perspectives is an inherently fascinating component of meeting people worldwide. The Round Square International Service Project gave me time to reflect and delve into the motivations behind others’ ideas. On the trip, I learned that new perspectives are not just something to explore, but something to treasure. The way diversity on the journey and absorbing the locals' traditions impacted me was just as potent as the feeling of making a profound difference in a community. Combining these two feelings made the experience one of the most memorable of my life. As a result, I wholeheartedly recommend participating in a Round Square trip to any Cate student.