Doing Well While Doing Good in the Philippines

The result was a two-week service trip to the Philippines where she tried her hands at both healthcare and early childhood education through her work with International Volunteer Headquarters (IVH), and perhaps a lesson that you can do well while doing good.

“The whole idea was kind of me just trying out different things,” said Maddie, whose mother, Myra, was born in the Philippines. “Like, ‘Okay, what if I maybe want to be a teacher one day? Or, what if I maybe want to go into the medical field?’ The final verdict is that I still don't know what I want to do other than continue to try a lot of things.”

Considered among KUA’s highest honors, the Cullman Scholarship Program was established in 1983 with a gift from Hugh Cullman ’42 and supports students in off-campus study opportunities. In 2025, Maddie and nine other students were awarded scholarships to pursue an area of study of their choosing that develops leadership skills, global and environmental awareness, and service to others.

For Maddie, this meant traveling to the remote village of Tigman in the Philippines. There, she spent the first week of her stay assisting healthcare workers at free clinics or during house calls to treat residents.

“Since I have zero experience with anything related to medicine, I had no idea what I was doing,” Maddie joked. “Despite this, I was still able to help out with checking blood pressures, giving the English translation of health presentations, and distracting kids getting vaccines.”

The final week of her volunteer work was spent at the Tigman Elementary School tutoring a group of kindergartners. Given her mother’s heritage, Maddie said she enjoyed surprising the children with the few Filipino words she knows.

“My favorite part was definitely getting to meet the kids, even if some were a little rambunctious at times,” she said. “I wasn’t always successful with the tutoring part, but it was a lot of fun.”

Maddie said she enjoyed meeting her fellow IVH volunteers, who traveled to the Philippines from places like the United Kingdom and Australia, and taking part in cultural nights where they learned traditional dances and performed karaoke.

While not her first visit to the Philippines, Maddie also made time for further exploration. She and some volunteers traveled to nearby places like Puerto Princesa and Port Barton, known for white-sand beaches and beautiful waterfalls, to take in the scenery and try their hands at snorkeling.

Maddie, whose been a part of several theater productions during her time at KUA, is in the process of applying to college and is interested in studying the humanities. She said her Cullman Scholarship experience has only reaffirmed her love of people and will to help.