Teal Bryan ’12 returns to children in need
Mark Tarnacki
One way to understand sophomore Teal Bryan’s potential is to look at the 2009 edition of the College’s literary and arts magazine, the Onion River Review.
There you’ll find the varsity soccer player’s sensitive and skillfully drawn pencil portrait of Derrick, a child she befriended during her pre-college volunteer experience at an orphanage in Ghana. Bryan, daughter of two artists, created the drawing for a fine arts class, then had it selected for publication.
Whether in art, service or sports, pushing her limits and succeeding are simply part of Bryan’s self-challenging and self-giving nature—qualities that have made her popular not just with soccer teammates and head coach Marcel Choquette, but also with 50 or so children who live at the small Eugemot Orphanage in Ghana.
“After high school I wanted to do something to get out of myself and make myself grow to see what I was capable of doing rather than following in others’ footsteps,” said Bryan.
After forging deep bonds with the Ghana orphans on her first 10-week trip following high school in 2008, Bryan decided to return to Eugemot independently this past summer. Unlike the first time, when she went with about 20 other volunteers through a non-profit organization, this time she was on her own.
On her most recent visit, Bryan bunked with the orphan girls in a spare, crowded room instead of staying in a separate building for volunteers. As before, she taught classes for the children, played soccer with them, ran with them, cared for them, but mainly just loved them. Derrick, the boy she later drew for class, asked her to adopt him, Bryan said. While she had to tell him why that was not possible, it left a strong impression on her that she could come to mean so much to a child in so short a time.
“I got as much out of it as I put into it, just being able to see the kids smile and know they felt comfortable with me as their teacher and knowing they were improving on their work made me feel very happy,” she said.
Bryan is a stellar soccer player. She tied for the Purple Knight women’s soccer team lead in goals as a first-year with six, including two game-winners. She played in all 18 games and helped lead the team to an 8-8-2 record. She also was second on the team with three assists and 15 points and named to the Northeast-10 conference All-Rookie Team.
“I’ve been playing soccer since I was 5 or 6, and this is my favorite team I’ve played on,” she said of her Saint Michael’s experience.
Soccer turned out to be a useful tool for building relationships with the orphans, Bryan said. Girls in Africa don’t typically play sports like they do in the U.S., but she played regularly with older boys on a dirt field, using bamboo goals—with no nets.
Bryan said the main thing she took away from the orphanage was improved perspective on her life, realizing that she and most people have the ability to achieve far more than they may ever have thought possible when circumstances demand it.
“I would say that now, I try not to take things for granted. I appreciate my life and family and friends a lot more than before I traveled,” she said. “I try to stay positive and optimistic about things. Sometimes when I get down and can’t do something, I remember I have opportunities many others don’t have.
