While she's probably most well-known for her presence on the basketball court, Wisconsin women's basketball junior guard Alyssa Karel experienced a whole new arena this past summer.
During her break, Karel traveled to South Africa through The International Scholar Laureate Program (ISLP) where she spent two weeks visiting medical facilities and communities, as well as experiencing the culture and learning the history of the country.
According to the ISLP website, its aim is to ""educate, motivate, and inspire accomplished students through interactive, experiential and engaging programs that encourage high achievers to reach higher."" The program annually sends hundreds of students around the world through educationally oriented business, diplomacy, engineering, medicine and nursing programs.
Karel, a first year nursing student, traveled to the African country with a group of other nursing students ranging from their early-20s, to mid-40s. Karel said the medical field has always been something that has drawn her attention.
""Science always interested me,"" Karel said. ""I like the fact that [nursing] is really patient focused, and you're around people a lot.""
This was not Karel's first experience abroad. Going into her senior year of high school, the St. Paul, Minn. native traveled to El Salvador. Karel said this experience ignited her interest in helping those in foreign countries.
""I saw a lot of things outside my comfort zone [in El Salvador],"" Karel said. ""It really blew my mind, a lot of poverty.""
In fact, Alyssa is not the only Karel involved in helping the disadvantaged. Her older brother is currently living in New Orleans, working in the lower Ninth Ward as a volunteer coordinator for rebuilding efforts.
""He's an example for me,"" Karel said. ""My family is also a generous family and they always instilled those beliefs in me.""
While in South Africa, Karel visited numerous medical facilities across the developing nation. Her group traveled around to communities, visiting clinics and interacting with the local citizens. Additionally, the group traveled to both private and public hospitals in order to better gauge the levels of disparity in the country. According to Karel, while the private facilities sometimes even outpaced those in America, the public hospitals were overcrowded, run down and under-staffed.
However, the most rewarding experience for Karel on the trip came while visiting a center home to children and their mothers who were terminally suffering from HIV/ AIDS. The center, run by an American doctor who gave up working in the United States to work with these patients, offers care for the ill while also guaranteeing a home for the children if their mothers are no longer able to care for them.
""That kind of thing hits you hard because a lot of the kids there were either born with AIDS or had contracted the virus,"" Karel said. ""So it was really an eye-opening experience.""
Karel's experiences in South Africa have further developed her interest in foreign medical care.
""I think that's something I definitely am planning to do in the future,"" Karel said.
Back at home, Karel, who currently leads the Badgers in scoring this season, deals with the rigors of basketball and nursing school, while using the lessons she learned this summer in everyday life.
""I feel bad a lot because I feel like I can't really get involved in as much as I want being so busy with basketball,"" Karel said. ""But I think just the mentality that I took back... You have a tough game, we just lost to Northwestern [last Sunday] and you're thinking, ‘what are we going to do now.' It puts things in perspective. It makes you realize there are more things out there than basketball.""
