A Family Thread of Healing and Hope
When I stepped onto the MV Explorer in the summer of 2014, I did not realize I was stepping into the story that would shape the rest of my life.
I was a first-generation college student leaving the United States for the first time. I was wide-eyed and excited. I had no idea that the ocean I was about to cross would become sacred ground for my family.
What I could not have known then was that this voyage would become the anchor point for some of the most meaningful chapters of my life. Eleven years later, I would return. Not as a student, but as a professor. I would stand on the deck this time beside my daughter and my father.
Three generations. One ship. Voyage 136.
Semester at Sea became a thread woven deeply into the fabric of our family. My sister Sumer sailed before I did. Her stories were the first spark. She described a world that felt expansive and alive with possibility. She told me that travel teaches you what no textbook can. She said the world is more beautiful than photographs and more complex than headlines. When I finally sailed, everything clicked.
Semester at Sea did more than broaden my worldview. It redirected my life. It softened me. It strengthened me. It gave me language for the kind of educator and human being I wanted to become.
Over time, four of my sisters sailed. Each returned changed in her own way. We share ports, photos, and memories. Still, no voyage can ever be replicated. That is part of the magic.
One part of this story remains especially emotional for me. When I sailed in 2014, my little sister Aaliyah was eleven years old and battling cancer. While I was studying global health and watching sunsets in foreign ports, she was in hospital rooms learning what survival requires. I carried her with me everywhere: in every reflection paper, in every quiet moment on the deck, in every prayer whispered into the ocean wind. In Ireland I took a bus ride to a magical tree filled with prayers answered by Saint Bridgette.
Still, I was learning about the world. She was fighting for her life.
At the time, none of us could imagine that she would one day be strong enough to take this journey herself. But in Spring 2025, she sailed. She lived. She stepped onto that same ship not as the little sister reading my postcards, but as a survivor. She boarded with strength, resilience, and a story that inspires everyone around her. Watching her sail has been one of the most profound full-circle moments of my life.
Semester at Sea did not just change my life. It became part of her healing story too.
From Wide-Eyed Student to Professor
During my voyage, I was shaped not only by the places we visited, but by the professors who truly saw me. They knew what I was carrying at home. They supported me not just as a student, but as a sister navigating fear from thousands of miles away.
Dr. Mikki Hebl changed my life. She required weekly journals and responded to them thoughtfully. Through those entries, she came to understand my uncertainty about my future. I was capable, but unsure. Driven, but without direction. She encouraged me to apply to a liberal arts college.
When I returned home, I applied to Pitzer College. I received a full scholarship. I entered the 4+1 program and began my Master of Public Health while finishing my B.A. Her guidance shifted my path from confusion to clarity.
During that voyage, I realized I wanted to become a professor. I wanted to return to this ship one day and mentor students the way I had been mentored. Eleven years later, I did. Returning as faculty felt like stepping into sacred space with a new purpose. Teaching on this ship and shaping future global citizens has been a dream fulfilled.
The Shared Heartbeat of Voyage 136
What made Voyage 136 even more meaningful was sharing it with my father and my daughter. Watching them experience the wonder and community that once shaped me has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. Three generations on one ship. It felt like a quiet affirmation. This is part of who we are.
This semester brought another unforgettable connection. In my Health and Wellness class, a lifelong learner named Val Denton shared that she sailed in 1979. She met her husband during her voyage and still treasures photographs from that journey.
We compared her photos to mine. We noticed what had changed. We also recognized what had not.
Despite sailing decades apart, we shared the same heartbeat. The friendships. The discovery. The way shipboard life transforms you from the inside out. Having Val in my classroom felt symbolic. It was a reminder that Semester at Sea connects generations in rare and meaningful ways; it is history that is alive, carried forward by each voyager.
Semester at Sea gave me a global lens. It shaped my academic path and my professional calling. It influenced the way I teach, the way I parent, and the way I move through the world.
Seeing my sisters, my daughter, and my father step into this experience has shown me how powerful legacy can be.
As I look ahead, I hope to sail again as faculty. I hope one day my daughter boards this ship as a college student. I imagine my nieces and nephews continuing a journey that began with Sumer and grew into something far bigger than any one of us.
Semester at Sea is not simply something my family experienced, It is something that helped raise us. It helped heal us. It helped guide us. It is our story. And it will continue sailing through our family for generations to come.
