Not many students would be able to leave their house for a month to go across the world, let alone a freshman.

But Grace Schumann decided that she wanted to make a difference in the world, and an ad she saw on Facebook led her to the path that she’s on now.

She will participate in a Global Leadership Adventures volunteer trip to a location in Asia this summer. Whether she ends up going to Thailand or India, she will be helping children in orphanages and spending time with monks while working on her photography skills. If she gets to go to Thailand, she will also be working with women to empower them.

“I’ve always really wanted to do photojournalism and I thought that the only way I could get there is to go through the Peace Corps. I would have to go through college and then start the Peace Corps. That was my plan,” Schumann said. “Then I clicked on this ad on Facebook for a teenage Peace Corps. It had all of the things that I was looking for in the Peace Corps, it gives me some field experience for photojournalism, and it lets me help people.”

The volunteer trip will cost around $5,000, so Schumann is fundraising to help offset the costs of the trip, which will take place in either July or August. She held a bake sale during lunch hours until Wednesday but will continue selling original art prints, commissions, and custom picture portraits as requested. She has also started a GoFundMe account to help. So far, she has raised over $500 from both the bake sales and the GoFundMe page.

According to Schumann, all of the money is used to help get the volunteers to the villages once they arrive in the country and help supply different necessities to those in need.

“It’s a lot of money, but my mom said ‘If you can raise $5,000 in the next couple months, I’ll pay for your passport and your plane ticket,’ that was the first thing that got me going,” Schumann said.

According to Schumann, getting an opportunity like this as a freshman is going to give her a taste of the future she has always hoped for.

“The Peace Corps is definitely something I’ll be looking forward to and I have heard stories of people who do it every year, and some people do it twice a year. That sounds like the dream. It would be a taste of what my life would be like after college. That’s really what I want to start doing,” Schumann said.

She encourages other students to try to do something like this as well.

“I think anyone can do this as long as they have the drive, the time, and baking skills,” Schumann said.