Students explore environmental issues in Vietnam

SEELEY LAKE - This past July, three Seeley-Swan High School (SSHS) students and graduates visited Vietnam as part of a youth exchange to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Vietnam's bilateral relations on environmental issues facing Vietnam and Montana. 

Sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam, the exchange included 25 students each from Montana and Vietnam. All students from Montana involved in the exchange were enrolled in Missoula County Public Schools. The SSHS students and graduates who attended included senior Cora Stone and 2022 graduates Crystal Lopez and Will Batchelder. 

The focus of the program was to share environmental and natural resource issues between the two countries and celebrate the shared interests between American and Vietnamese youth. 

"It was just another step in reforging the relationship between the U.S. and Vietnam," Stone said. "I think it's important to carry out programs like this and I think it adds something more human to the experience because it lets you meet these students and forge friendships." 

All three students said they learned about the program through Batchelder's brother Angus, who attended the trip years earlier. The students said they joined for the experience and because the trip was free, with the exception of personal passports and travel immunizations. 

"I care about the environment," Lopez said. "I also want to do foreign exchanges in the future, so this was a good fit." 

Compared to previous years, this exchange was slightly different. 

The program included three components. The first component was a virtual exchange in the spring of 2021. Staff and all 25 students, Vietnamese partners and University of Montana faculty gathered on Zoom to discuss U.S. and Vietnamese culture and society, intercultural communication and environmental issues in both countries. 

Directed by UM's climate changes studies program director Nicky Phear, environmental content focused on four different issues: youth engagement in environmental action, climate change impacts and solutions, plastic pollution and zero waste strategies, and nature and biodiversity.

In the second component of the program, the U.S. students traveled to Vietnam for two weeks. 

SSHS students landed in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, on July 16. They traveled across the country to learn about their culture, food and participate in several environmentally based projects. 

Students said they got to see the way environmental issues in Vietnam differed and paralleled those in Montana. Some major environmental crises facing Vietnam right now are deforestation, plastic pollution, air pollution and solid waste management. In contrast, Montana is currently facing more indirect consequences of climate change, including droughts, floods and intense wildfire seasons. 

"There was a lot of smog in the cities and it was really hazy over the ocean," Stone said. "I was just really sad because it's such a natural, beautiful place." 

Students said they planted over 200 mango trees in one day and got to visit a Buddhist Monastery. Their most memorable moment during the trip was a hike in the jungle, where they encountered land leeches, a distinct group of annelid worms native to the rainforests around the indo-pacific. 

Students said when they asked whether there were leeches in the rainforest, the guide confused the word Leech with the Lychee, a popular fruit that is grown in Vietnam, and told them not to worry about "leeches." Soon after, they were ambushed by land leeches. 

"A bunch of leeches just started crawling up our legs and ankles," Lopez said. "They started dropping down from the trees onto our foreheads and arms." 

Despite the sometimes unexpected adventures, the students said their hosts were very accommodating and welcoming. When they arrived, they were welcomed with traditional Vietnamese foods, including dehydrated and pickled jellyfish, snails and Lychee. They said they created friendships with the other Vietnamese exchange students during their time. 

"They all have such a great sense of humor," Lopez said. "They're so polite and welcoming. Personally, I've never been so welcomed into a community before I met the Vietnamese students." 

Now that the SSHS students are back, they're welcoming the Vietnam students to the U.S. as the third component of the program. On Aug. 10 the students joined together for a hike up to Holland Falls. Similar to what the U.S. students did in Vietnam, the Vietnamese exchange students traveled across Montana to learn about the environmental issues facing the U.S. 

While the program only lasts till the end of the summer, some of the SSHS students said they hope to pursue something environmentally based in their career. 

Batchelder plans to attend Missoula College to major in culinary arts. 

With one year left of high school, Stone said she's not sure where she wants to go or what she wants to study, but she hopes to make a difference in the environmental field.

Lopez, who will attend UM in the fall, plans to major in Parks, Tourism and Recreation Management with a minor in climate change studies, but said she will likely narrow down her major to something environmentally based. She said this trip really changed her understanding of environmental issues on a broader scale. 

"It was just like a completely new perspective," Lopez said. "I just gotta see it from a tiny new lens of what it's like and it makes me feel good to make so many different connections with the students."  

To learn more about the exchange program visit https://www.umt.edu/mansfield/high-school/vietnam-hs-exchange/