FITCHETT TAKES NEPAL

Throughout the month of October teacher Scott Fitchett spent most of his time hiking in the remote Himalayas in Nepal. Fitchett left Sept. 30 and returned Oct. 27. He spent a total of 15 days on the trek.

Fitchett decided to go to Nepal because of his interest in Tibetan Buddhism and its proximity.

“I’ve been interested in Nepal for a long time […] I grew up in Sandpoint and the biggest mountains in the world are the Himalayas so I was really attracted to that,” he said.

The biggest reason Fitchett was able to embark on this trip was that his uncle was already going. Fitchett’s uncle ended up funding his travel.

“My uncle was complaining to me in August about having to go by himself, so I was like ‘well I’ll go with you!’”

During his trip, Fitchett wrote all of his students an individual letter about why he admires and appreciates them. Each was a page long and included the location and date he wrote them.  

“I felt guilty about leaving you all [students],…so I thought ‘what can I do to show them that I appreciate them?’ So I thought I would have a lot of time like on airplanes and stuff.”

Fitchett wrote most of the letters in the airport during his long travel time. He continued to write some of the letters on the trail but eventually ran out of paper and was unable to find more until he returned to Hong Kong. Along with the letters, Fitchett brought back all the students yak yarn bracelets.

“I thought it was very cool of him to take time out of his personal vacation to think about each individual student, it seemed very genuine and was made evident that he cares for his students,” senior Sociology student, Steffani Vomdorp says, “I don’t think very many teachers would do that.”

While on the trek, Fitchett went two weeks without being able to communicate with his friends and family. It wasn’t until in a remote village in Nepal that he was able to find a hotel with wifi and was able to communicate with his wife Sage.

“That is when I got homesick,” Fitchett said. “It reminded to make the most of the time that I had.”