For the first day of the conference we learnt about how our brains work and how this can help us understand each other and help us get along better, it always related back to the theme. We were introduced to Bruce Cotly and his wife. Bruce was a man who believed in holistic learning and we were taught over the next three days about different ways of looking at life through different activities including, spending time in nature listening and understanding the area we were in, we also collected little bits of nature and placed them on a table and looked at the table from different perspectives, like how people from around the world may see things differently.

We ended the week with a debate between different groups on different topics, mine was “that humans need other human contact to be able to flourish in life.” This lead to interesting discussions within my small group as I saw how people from around the world see the same topic.

We were all very sad to leave on the last day but also glad to be heading home to see our families, I am sure that we have all made friends for life as we talk to them daily.

As a group, we have the aim to change the view on how GAIL is portrayed within the school.

GAIL is to be no longer just a trip and with the skills, activities and experiences we all have taken away after attending GAIL there is now the chance for the students of Scotch to get involved in our upcoming campaigns and other conferences.

On behalf of the 2017 GAIL team we would like to say a huge thankyou to the staff who attended, Mr Mackenzie, one of the funniest people alive; Ms Kemp, who can take a mint picture; and Mr Albano who represented Australia well, for a Canadian! 

Esther Boles 11Go