Merit Academy

A few years ago, right before our 650 mile journey, I had the chance to visit a local school called Merit Academy. I was able to talk about what we do and try to raise some money for Bridge of Love. Recently we were contacted by a teacher at the school, Mrs. Moody, and asked to speak for her class. This opportunity is a dream come true to me. When I was 12 and living in South America, an Englishman came and spoke at my school. He was riding his bike for two years around the entire world! It was inspiring. When Kenton and I did our trip we tried to speak at schools because I wanted to inspire young kids like I had been.

Merit Academy is a pretty awesome school. The class we were asked to speak at is a service class! I wish I had been able to take something like that in High School! I asked the kids about the class and they said that the school requires students to do a service project or to take the class. What a great curriculum!


Tanner and I went to the class to present. We shared information about who we are and what we do. Our main goal was to teach the kids that: 1. Everyone has something they feel passionate about which can be used to serve others. 2. Service is not always easy nor is it convenient. There are drawbacks and trials will arise which one will have to push through because... 3. Service is worth doing and needs to be done. The rewards, intrinsic and extrinsic, that come from serving others makes the difficulty more than worth it. Also, as human beings, we have the responsibility to help others and lift the collective burden of the world to make it a better place.

We loved the presentation although we weren't sure if the kids did. I have a hard time reading teenagers responses, it made me feel old. Mrs. Moody contacted us a few days later and said the kids LOVED us. That made us feel good. She invited us back again and I was able to go present again to another class. After this presentation one of the students came up and asked how he can get involved. I got his info and we are going to talk to him soon. It was edifying to see how the things we have been doing are inspiring other young people to serve.

Tanner and Mason at Merit Academy