Name: Kalen Commander
Major: Management Information Systems
Year: Sophomore, 2025
Project: DDCE Global Website Redesign
Why: Traveling abroad with DDCE Global is a life-altering experience, and it forever alters your life and worldview. The current website to me didn’t demonstrate well enough how impactful these trips have been for people. I wanted a way to help show this through pictures, and testimonials from people who have been on the trips themselves. That way it would not only highlight the stories of those who were impacted the heaviest but also speak to people that may be interested in taking a trip with DDCE themselves. Young people can be apprehensive about traveling abroad, and I think seeing how other students benefited and how much fun they had would help give students the push to apply and ultimately travel with DDCE. I also wanted my project to b tailored to my career and help me build skills that I could use in my career. Taking on this project has helped me learn valuable web development skills.
Why GSF? In March of 2022, I had the opportunity to go abroad with DDCE global to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. This would be my first trip overseas, and in the beginning, I was very apprehensive about even applying to the trip itself. My roommate however convinced me that we both should apply and see what happens. We both were accepted, and we went. The trip was a life-changing experience, and it will forever leave a mark on me. I have stories upon stories that I could tell anyone who would listen to them. I wanted other people who look like me and people who wouldn’t normally have the opportunity, to experience the same thing I did. GSF was a way for me to build up actual skills to use in my career, as well as give back in a way that will impact the lives of other students.
Favorite Memory with DDCE I have many fond memories from traveling abroad with DDCE, but there is one that sticks out. While we all were waiting to get our Covid tests we needed to travel back to the US, some of the other guys decided to wander off before it was our turn to get our tests. We stumbled upon a basketball court, where there was a large group of Filipinos playing basketball. They invited us all to play, and we played a couple of games. It was very fun, and we laughed with these guys whom we had never met and joked about the game and other things. The fondest memories I have of that trip to Dubai are all based around the people I met and the experiences that you can’t just get as a tourist.
