Susan Wetmore '66

‘Travel while you’re young… The hardest part is getting off the couch but when you’re gone, you’re gone!’

 

Susan Wetmore ’66 has been volunteering her entire life. Her family has volunteered all their lives. She considers setting up one of the first food banks in Ontario the beginning, and now Susan is being honoured by the Governor General with the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers. 

 

She is eternally grateful to NJC for opening her eyes. Her passion for travel started at her year at NJC. She continues to do this today with her work with CESO, which allows her to really experience the communities and how they live and work day to day. Her job is to give small businesses the tools to improve their businesses, and eventually their communities. This leads to improving the local economy, the environment, and gender equality. With over 100 countries under her belt, and counting, she plans to continue her volunteering until she’s 79 (and we hope, beyond)! Susan is still not tired of flying, and even though she’s been away for 5 months, Ethiopia is calling… 

 

When the news came in about her honour, she was on her container ship for 2 months, so she had just ‘stepped off the world.’ There was no Wi-Fi, no radio or TV, and she was the only passenger for a month and only female. The gangway was 70 stairs high, and she didn’t know how she would do it the first time! She only disembarked 3 times. What is there to do for months on a container ship? Susan is fascinated with how things worked and wanted to know how the ship works, the logistics, the fuel, how to read the charts, what kind of other ships travel the seas… She viewed her time as a nautical education. She felt so welcome by the crew as it is very rare for container ships to take passengers. ‘Stepping off the world was an amazing thing to do.’ But she’s taking a plane to Ethiopia, not a boat this time.

 

When Susan set out for Neuchâtel, flying was incredibly expensive, and she went by ship. In her Neuchâtel bin, she still has the labels from her trunk from when she set sail for Neuchâtel.  It was her very first transatlantic crossing with her fellow 100 NJC students! It took about 5 days, but she highly recommends it still.

 

Each NJC trip was so unique because it was cutting edge travel. That was at a time, the ‘edge’ of travel, places no one went, such as Morocco. One of her most memorable was meeting the Pope at Easter. She admits that back then, as a student, she thought ‘ho-hum’ but now, she realizes how amazing the experience was. She also went to Hungary just after their communist revolution. And the driver had forgotten his passport had expired! What an experience!

 

Her NJC class had drifted apart, but after their 50^thanniversary reunion they ‘picked up where they left off.’ The celebration allowed them all to reconnect and it was ‘very exciting.’ Her roommate from NJC now lives near her! Truly, your NJC friends and relationships last a lifetime.

 

Of the over 100 countries she’s visited, every trip is so unique, but one of her favourite trips was taking the cross Canada via trail trip with her children. The meaning of travel is that each trip is special in its own way, whether positive or negative. She was caught in the 2008 civil war in Tibet, and that a very memorable trip but for the wrong reasons. But she considers her most meaningful and memorable trip to be a family trip. In 1991-1992, she and her four children took a round the world trip. And from that, her children learned from and experienced other communities. A global education.

                                                                                                        

Her words of inspiration for NJC students: Always follow your passion. Every time you have a new experience, it builds a new skill set. All those experiences contribute to making you a better person. Put the phone down. Meet real people doing real things. Live with them, work with them, and listen to them. Talk to each other. Social media has its purposes, but communicate with people on a genuine level. Meeting someone for tea. Sit and listen. Laugh and share the great times. 

 

When she came home from NJC, her mother said to her ‘you’ve changed.’ And Susan replied, ‘I hope I have, but I hope I’ve changed for the better.’ Students from NJC should be expected to be leaders, expected to set the bar and remain that high level of excellence and be committed to their communities. NJC has a certain privilege with it, but don’t lose sight of your roots and where you come from and where you want to go.

 

Her award ceremony has yet to be scheduled but we are so proud of her, and thank her for her words of inspiration for the next generation of NJC leaders.

 

‘Get off the comfy couch and get out there. Push your comfort level. You will survive. Trust me.’

 

Read more about Susan, CESO, and her work online. https://www.ceso-saco.com/ceso-va-awarded-sovereign-medal-2/