That adage of expanding one’s worldview through travel extended beyond T-shirts this summer as Hays, a guidance counselor at Fort Dodge Senior High, and Shelly Bottorff, executive director of the Fort Dodge Fine Arts Association, took four students abroad this summer to visit Fort Dodge’s sister city in Kosovo with a goal of learning about other cultures, arts, and human commonalities.

Hays and Bottorff, along with Fort Dodge Senior High School students Briley Singer and Owen Gruver and St. Edmond Catholic School students Grace Fuller and Layla Ellis, left Fort Dodge on July 21 and traveled to sister city Gjakova, Kosovo, where they stayed through Aug. 4.

“The purpose of the trip is to learn more about our sister city and to be ambassadors of Fort Dodge,” said Hays. “We attended an international leadership camp for the first part of Camp TOKA. We learn about ourselves and others. We find commonalities with the people in Gjakova and learn from their struggles and achievements as well as our culture.”

During Camp TOKA, the students learned about businesses in Kosovo, participated in culture nights, hiked in the mountains, visited Prizren, which is also a city in Kosovo, and participated in leadership activities.

-Submitted photo
St. Edmond student Grace Fuller along with students from Gjakova, Kosovo, participated in an Iron Chef competition and later celebrated chaperone Jolene Hays’ birthday.

While in Gjakova, the students lived with a local host family, toured the city, visited a TV set, participated in a local music festival as part of Albanian Days, learned about the educational system and met with the Gjakova director of education. Students also met with the mayor and learned of the recent rebuilding projects, as well as visiting area caves and historical sites.

“This is my second trip as a chaperone, and both years have just been amazing,” said Bottorff. “To be able to visit an underdeveloped country and gain a new perspective has been such an unexpected treat. The people over there are so welcoming and have a strong love and appreciation not only for Americans, but for Iowans as well.”

“I have had the opportunity to take five groups to experience Camp TOKA and our sister city,” added Hays. “This was one of the top trips. When we travel, they treat us like family. The community is so warm and welcoming. Our students did a fantastic job of representing Fort Dodge, Iowa, and the United States.”

The connection to sister city Gjakova dates back to the 1990s when the Iowa Army National Guard was deployed as peacekeepers as the former Yugoslavia broke up. In 2016, Fort Dodge and Gjakova officially became sister cities.

“This experience really helps our youth learn that no matter where you are, a teenager is a teenager, people are people, breaking down any stereotypes we might have based on race and religion,” said Hays. “It takes some of the unknown about being from another part of the world away.”

-Submitted photo
Four Fort Dodge students, along with two chaperones, visited Fort Dodge’s sister city, Gjakova, Kosovo, earlier this month. Fort Dodge and Gjakova have been sister cities since 2016.

The trip to Kosovo was fully funded through fundraising, as well as donations from local civic organizations, including the Smeltzer Foundation, Webster County 4-H Foundation, the Noon Kiwanis, CJ Bio America, and NEW Cooperative Foundation.