She had exclusive access to elephants, antelopes, giraffes and lions, but it’s what Lauren Reiser did off the game reserve in South Africa that still resonates with the University of Virginia student as she begins her third year on Grounds.
Reiser, a New Jersey native, didn’t take a direct route to UVA, instead opting in 2021 to embark on an adventurous gap year between high school and college. She was abroad for eight months, beginning with business internships in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Cape Town, South Africa, and ending with a two-week volunteer program at South Africa’s Kariega Game Reserve.
And while she gained the once-in-a-lifetime experience of working with African wildlife in their natural habitat – Reiser was part of a group that took a daily census of the reserve – she also helped refurbish a local preschool.
Reiser was part of a volunteer group that refurbished a local preschool near Cape Town, leaving the students and teachers delighted with their new-look space. (Contributed photo)
“The reserve was having a problem with poaching,” Reiser said, “so, to combat that, they wanted to build goodwill and trust within the community and create less of a desire to break that trust on the other side.
“So, we went outside of the reserve to work on this school in the nearby town. It wasn’t what I was expecting to do when I first signed up for this, but I’m so glad I did it. It was so inspiring.”
Reiser was involved with the project from start to finish, having a hand in everything from stripping, priming and painting the walls to cleaning all the furniture. The eight-hour days were long, but the prize came at the end when they were able to witness the real-time reactions of the children and teachers when they stepped back into their new-look space for the first time.
“Just how much it meant to the teachers to have a safe, clean, happy, bright, colorful place to have these children learn in,” Reiser said, “it was incredibly meaningful.”
The lasting effect of that moment stuck with Reiser as she entered UVA the following fall. She saw firsthand the impact of engaging with a surrounding area and wanted to apply that practice in Charlottesville.
