KALAMAZOO (MICH.)- Maya Daniels entered the dorms of Kalamazoo College with her favorite pillow and her small suitcase. The little red-headed girl with the braids smiled as she saw familiar faces and some new ones. She would be a college student for one week, even though she was only in the 5th grade. Little did she know that ten years later, once an only child, she would have more forever sisters than she could have imagined. Little did she know that she would travel the world with her new friends…and later join the Peace Corps to teach English.

Maya, a 2025 graduate of Spelman College, traveled the world as an Explorer. Her adventures began with learning the Explorer 20 world landmarks, the dream destinations set by the original Explorers in 2008. In the fall of 2025, she will join the Peace Corps as a teacher in Vietnam.

“These girls would have never thought of doing something like this, if it hadn’t been for you and this program,” said Angela Strickland, Maya’s mother. “They have been traveling and staying on college campuses ever since elementary school. It was only natural that they would want to travel the world.”

In addition to the various local, state, and national media adventures Maya encountered as an Explorer, she earned college credit in middle school when the Explorers visited Hawaii as part of a science extended study program. And, she was among the four Explorers selected to represent the City of Kalamazoo in Numazu, Japan, Kalamazoo’s Sister City, as a sophomore in high school.

“I have had so many adventures with the Explorers,” Maya said. “But, travel has been the one most exciting thing. I want to see the world. This program has helped me do that.”