International Book Club

My name is Sara Hoppe, and as part of my Gold Award as a member of my local Girl Scouts Troop, based in Freeport, Minnesota, I donated over 600 books and raised additional financial support for Haile-Manas Academy.

I’ve been a Girl Scout for the past 12 years. I am currently in my last summer as a troop member, but plan to become a lifetime member to help out with the organization in the future.

My time in Girl Scouts was so important in helping me develop a sense of community for girls and young women. The Girl Scouts—my troop especially— emphasized local involvement; my troop members and I met each other in elementary school and have been together since.

I’ve also learned how crucial it is to have a global community perspective. Growing up, my family hosted multiple international exchange students from Germany, and I have pen pals who live in Japan. Those experiences and friendships have shaped me—having friends you ache for when something happens in their country, and knowing they feel the same when something happens here—increases your worldview. 

I first heard about Haile-Manas Academy through my mom. She works at the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library in Minnesota, where she photographs rare manuscripts and helps maintain the museum’s digital library. I used to go with her to work during school breaks, and one day I went and met Dr. Getatchew Haile, the father of HMA Co-Founder Rebecca Haile. He told me about HMA’s work, and I was immediately interested. I began researching HMA and looking for ways that I could help.

The Girl Scouts encourages troop members to find what they’re passionate about - whether it be literacy, animal rights, or something else. I enjoy reading and writing; it brings me such joy and I believe everybody deserves to have that joy. Valuing both my local and global community made supporting HMA an easy choice, and I decided to pursue a literacy-centered project for my final assignment to earn my Gold Award. To earn the Gold Award, I was required to do over 80 hours of community service and engagement, and then it took a year and to plan the project. The project was so important to me; I knew that even if it wasn’t approved by my council leadership, I wanted to do it for HMA. I’m so glad it was, though, because the project gave me a great opportunity to not only practice being a global citizen, but also to teach my own local community.

While I was packing up the books, I couldn’t help but think that I could someday be reading and enjoying the same book as a student at HMA who I’d never met, almost like a little international book club. I guess that is the beauty of books in general, connecting a reader to people they've never met and places they've never seen. I am incredibly honored to have been HMA’s first volunteer.