A former Atlantic City youth's return home led to a trip across the world for some local children.
Mayor Marty Small was at a Stockton University program when he met up with Akeem Lloyd, one of his Boys and Girls Club kids who is now a leader himself.
Lloyd told Small about a trip last year when his group, “A Leadership Journey,” took kids to Kenya.
"Where are you going this year?" Small asked.
That led to at Lloyd telling him the plans for South Africa. But the mayor had to be quick if he wanted a chance for Atlantic City kids come along.
Atlantic City High School students got working on essays that a panel of Atlantic City Youth Services Division workers read through to help choose the five who would be making what promises to be a life-changing trip.
It was a blind reading so that no one knew who the authors were, Youth Services Director Christina Noble explained.
"I mostly based (my essay) on my family because they play a big role in my life," said Makiyah Coppin, a sophomore at Atlantic County Institute of Technology.
Tim Tran said he talked about his family as well, along with "nature and how much I love the sciences."
The Atlantic City High School junior looks forward "especially to learning more about myself and learning other people's cultures."
Evan Johnson, also a junior, said he was thank for being given the opportunity for "the journey of a lifetime."
Melanie Victoria Hernandez-DiDomenico, a junior at ACIT, rounds out the five. She was the only student making the trip who couldn't attend Wednesday's news conference.
The focus of the trip is social injustices from ageism to racism to sexism, Noble said.
"It's going to be an awesome trip, a fun trip, but it's also going to be an educational one," she promised.
"In America people are too comfortable in what we have," Atlantic City High School junior William Harris said of a message in his essay. "Other countries don't have what we have when it comes to rights and privileges."
The students will give presentations both in South Africa and when they come home.
Noble will accompany the students along with Elizabeth Trigg, Youth Services specialist.
"I will treat your kids like they're my own," she vowed to the parents.
She talked about how she first got on a plane at 18, and it was what opened her up to world travel, which she shared with her children.
"I think you're so brave," she told the students. "I'm so proud of all of you for taking this first step. You will come back a changed person."
"These are the future leaders of the city of Atlantic City," Small said.
He hopes to make similar trips a regular offering.
The group will leave Friday, with layovers in Boston and Amsterdam.
They will return June 18, with travel layovers in London and Chicago.
