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Sixteen young women are headed to Romania this summer.

Each realizes the significance of such a trip, and they expect to return changed in some way.

For Ashlie Green Bucy, the woman leading the 12-day adventure, it has already been a life-changing experience just getting to know them.

"I have big dreams for these girls," she says.

That's because she knows some of them struggle against incredible odds just to get through high school. Some of them come from families that have seen abuse, addiction, poverty and homelessness. They have wondered if their circumstances would get the best of them. Others haven't faced such obstacles but may have experienced racism or sexism.

But they all have this in common: a strong desire to succeed.

They love their families, in spite of their hardships. They want to make the world a better place, whether it's to find a cure for cancer or to show kindness to others. They are wise beyond their years.

Bucy, executive director for the nonprofit, volunteer-run Dustin's GreenHouse Foundation, believes women have the ability to create change if they're put in an environment to do so.

Her foundation awards travel opportunities to high school students through the Globetrotter program. Since its inception in 2003, the Green family has taken students to Guatemala, Uganda, Ecuador and Peru. The program was established in memory of Bucy's brother, Dustin, who died in a car accident in 2002 at the age of 20. This year, Bucy wanted to offer the experience just to young women.

"I have this deep-rooted passion in my heart to reach out to this group of students," says Bucy, who mentored her younger sister, Mallory.

High school girls are faced with decisions that could really impede their lives, she says, such as pregnancy, drugs and skipping school. The program includes four components this year: leadership development, skill-building, teamwork and mentoring. The Romania-bound group will meet periodically through their departure in July to explore these topics.

"There are times when I just want to cry because it (their stories) breaks my heart," Bucy says.

But they have shown her what she can do to make the world a better place. And that's to reach out to students like them.

"I realize how much I don't know," she says. "It very much reminds me that you've got to keep these ... challenges very much a part of your life."

Contact Tina Firesheets at 373-3498 or tina.firesheets@news-record.com

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'It might be hard to get where you want to be, but if you work hard enough, it will come.'

-- Adrian Brown, 16, freshman, Grimsley High School

The eldest of her parents' eight children, Adrian Brown doesn't mind her role as a second mom.

"I get to be in charge, and I love to be in charge," she says.

But there are days when Brown struggles to motivate herself.

Her life changed drastically when her stepfather was sentenced to prison three years ago. Before his arrest, her family lived in a house and followed a routine. After his incarceration, her mother had trouble finding jobs, and Brown took on more family responsibilities.

Last year -- the night before Brown's eighth-grade prom -- their home was destroyed by fire.

"When the house caught on fire, it was the beginning of a long journey," she says.

Brown, her mother and three sisters lived in a motel and a battered women's shelter before landing in an apartment at Hampton Homes. Her life seemed so different from that of her classmates, and Brown struggled to muster up the motivation to go to school.

She eventually went to Grimsley principal Anna Brady because she needed help with school work but couldn't afford a tutor.

"I don't want to be here, but I'm making myself come," she told her principal and shared some of her family's troubles. Brady promised Brown her help because school leaders made a difference in her own life.

Grimsley counselor Cheryl Bolick recommended Brown for the Globetrotter program. Bolick describes Brown as a thoughtful person who wants a better life. In her recommendation, Bolick wrote: "She values traits of caring, understanding, loving and forgiving, and she is desperately seeking people and events in her life that are positive and which will help her be a strong role model to others."

Brown advises other troubled teens to seek help as she did. "Don't give up. ... It might be hard to get to where you want to be, but if you work hard enough, it will come," she says. "Don't be intimidated by other people or yourself."

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'I want to meet new people, try new food and experience a new culture.'

-- Lorna Devkota, 17, senior, Grimsley High School

She's an aspiring neurosurgeon who dreams of finding a cure for cancer.

But for now, Lorna Devkota just wants to get through high school. Devkota, who's in the academically rigorous International Baccalaureate program at Grimsley, also juggles a part-time job and competitive Tae Kwon Do training.

"I honestly feel exhausted all the time," she wrote in her Globetrotter application. "I also feel that I have no time to just enjoy what being a teenager is all about anymore. The level of expectation for society has risen to such a level that it is becoming difficult to be just a teen."

That's unlikely to change for Devkota, who has applied to UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke and Cornell universities, among others. She wants to double major in biology and chemistry and minor in international studies. Her international interest comes from her Nepali heritage.

The Nepalese American speaks five languages fluently: Nepali, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and English. Her family speaks Nepali at home, and they celebrate all of the Nepalese holidays.

"I'm very interested in other cultures and other religions," she says.

Her parents, who are from Kathmandu, Nepal, returned last summer with Devkota. While there, she volunteered at two hospitals. Her parents volunteer here, helping to resettle Bhutanese refugees.

Devkota wishes she could share Nepali culture and cuisine with everyone.

"Culture is very important to me," she says. "I think it makes a person who they are."

Devkota even says she wants her parents to arrange her marriage -- with some input from her.

"I'm all for arranged marriage," she says. "Who knows me better than my parents?"

Some of her friends don't understand it, but Devkota says it's because they haven't grown up in a culture where such practice is acceptable.

She looks forward to learning more about Romanian culture.

"I want to meet new people, try new food and experience a new culture," she says.

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'I'm very happy to inform people about what they don't know, so that they know.'

-- Sarah Zamamiri, 17, junior, Ragsdale High School

Sarah Zamamiri arrived at a recent Globetrotter meeting straight from track practice, wearing running pants, a pink T-shirt with the words "I &heart; running" and a Hijab, or Islamic head scarf worn by Muslim women.

Like Devkota, she takes pride in her culture. Zamamiri, who is Palestinian, speaks Arabic fluently. She also doesn't mind answering questions about her religion or country. She says Muslim American women aren't discouraged from participating in sports. It might be different in the Middle East, she says, but her own parents support her in track and cross-country.

"I'm very happy to inform people about what they don't know, so that they know," she says.

Despite her openness, Zamamiri shared during the application process that it wasn't always easy to fit in with her peers. In her application, Zamamiri wrote about being treated differently because of her Hijab.

"I was treated as if I were beneath other women. My personal challenge was when I was perceived as someone who shuts herself from society because I wear the Hijab and wear clothes that are not tight. Women are challenged uniquely by being judged by other women," she wrote.

Elsewhere in her application, she wrote: "I wish that people would be kinder to one another and try to make peace every day, whether it has a big impact or not, because it still makes a difference."

Zamamiri learned about the Globetrotter team through Elliot Montpellier, a family friend. In his recommendation, Montpellier wrote of Zamamiri's leadership roles as a peer tutor and violinist in the Greensboro Symphony Youth Orchestras. He also wrote that traveling to Romania might give Zamamiri "further insight into her own beliefs and add a global outlook to those beliefs."

Zamamiri has traveled to Jordan with her family several times, but this will be her first overseas trip without them. She looks forward to trying Romanian food.

"I've looked at the food, ... the Romanian buffet," she says. "It looks really good -- colorful and spicy. I'm really happy for that."

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'People used to tell me they understood (my situation), but they didn't. I can tell kids I understand. And I do.'

-- Ashley Hunt, 15, freshman, Smith High School

Friends and family call her "Booda."

"When I was born, I was a fatty, and I was bald-headed. And I used to sit cross-legged," Ashley Hunt says.

The youngest member of the Globetrotters' team calls herself "the funniest kid you'll ever meet."

She's also proud of her Lumbee heritage and her love for God. And she's unafraid to share her life story with others.

Her father, whom she says "struggles with crack," won't be released from prison until she's 17.

"But it's for the better," she says.

She wants to help troubled teens because she didn't always have an adult to turn to when she was most in need.

"People used to tell me they understood (my situation), but they didn't," she says.

"I can tell kids I understand. And I do. I had no lights. I had no water. I had to borrow water from someone's house or from someone's hose."

The thing Hunt fears most: an abusive relationship. Her parents often fought. After one argument, her father took Hunt and her sister to Fayetteville, where they hop-scotched among different family members.

Hunt recalls this conversation with her mother: "I said, 'Mom, I'm a 12-year-old child. I'm just a child. I shouldn't have to worry about where I'm going to sleep at night.' "

The one stabilizing force in her life was her grandmother, with whom she lived for a few years.

"The woman who raised me was an awesome person," Hunt says. "She didn't give up. She had 12 heart attacks before she died. Just 5 percent of her heart was working properly."

Hunt never forgets the words her grandmother spoke to her on her deathbed:

"Become something of yourself. Take care of yourself. Take care of your family."

That was in 2003, and it was a turning point in Hunt's life.

The message she wants to share with the world: "I did it."

"I struggled with anger my entire life," she says. "I would snap for no reason. But I (overcame) it. I got right with God, and I did it."

Now, she looks forward to her first trip out of the country.

"I know it's going to be a life-changing experience," she says. "It makes me want to live, to seek, to live life hard and long."

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'To be able to meet ... with diverse groups of teeangers has changed me to become a wiser and better teenager.'

-- Lakeya O'Neal, 18, senior, Ragsdale High School

This student athlete, with the soft voice and shy smile, has a lot on her mind these days.

It's her senior year. That means prom, graduation and college application fees. But Lakeya O'Neal doesn't want her father to stress about these extra expenses. She says her father, a single parent, works hard.

"I don't want him to struggle," she says. "I told him to don't even worry about me. Just pay the bills."

Her brother's girlfriend may have a prom dress that fits her. O'Neal doesn't waste time wishing things were different.

"Life is too short to be mad about something," she says.

In her application, she wrote: "I wouldn't change anything because my background has changed me to become a wiser and better teenager and to be able to meet ... with diverse groups of teenagers has also showed me I am not the only one who deals with certain struggles."

O'Neal wants to go to Romania to see just how privileged she is. "I want to look at how other people live and from a different perspective," she says. "I complain about not having certain things."

Although she's looking forward to her first trip out of the country, the airplane ride makes her nervous.

"Me and planes don't get along. These two planes just crashed recently, and that's in my head," she says.

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'Yes, everyone is different, but at the end of the day, we're all in the same universal circle.'

-- Janii James, 17, junior, Northern Guilford High School

She has already climbed Mount Fuji and walked the streets of Tokyo.

Now, she's ready for Romania.

Janii James believes people share more similarities than differences. She has learned this through her travels, which included two weeks in Japan through the People to People program last year.

In her application for the Globetrotter program, James wrote: "Yes, everyone is different, but at the end of the day, we're all in the same universal circle."

She wishes more people would realize this, particularly at her school, where she says students tend to segregate themselves by race.

"We're all so separated. I don't like the gap," she says. "We need to be more together."

The person whom she admires most: her grandmother.

James has lived with her grandmother since she was 2 years old and uses these words to describe her: strength, courage and confidence. She emphasizes her grandmother's strength.

"You have to be really strong to raise me because I'm a teenager, and she's old," she says.

James also says she's proud of her grandmother, who manages all of their responsibilities after her grandfather died three years ago.

"She's doing it on her own," James says. "She's doing it with grace, too."

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'We decide everything together. My family is very important.'

-- Dianne Osorio, 17, senior, Northwest Guilford High School

Moving from New York City to South Carolina in the middle of the school year wasn't an easy transition for the Osorio sisters.

It was especially hard for Dianne, the youngest.

The Osorios left New York five years ago for better jobs and more affordable housing. The economy there changed after Sept. 11, 2001, and Osorio's parents thought their prospects might be better in the South.

Osorio's parents are from El Salvador. She was born in New York and speaks both English and Spanish fluently.

She says the South Carolina town where they lived briefly had few Spanish-speaking families. Most people thought they were Mexican or Puerto Rican.

"There was racism," she says. "People said things like, 'You should go back to where you come from.' "

It shocked the Osorios, who were used to a more diverse community. Dianne Osorio turned to her older sisters.

"I had a really hard time. ... My sisters were like, 'Dianne, it will be OK. We're going to get through this.' "

That's how they get through life, she says. Together.

"We decide everything together," she says. "My family is very important."

The Osorios not only live together, they also spend a lot of time with each other. They often have barbecues at the park and movie nights at home.

"My dad will sometimes fall asleep in the middle of the movie, but he's always there," Osorio says.

She wants to go to Romania to meet a young woman her own age so that they can learn about one another. A group hiking trip also is planned. Osorio says she has never hiked, so she looks forward to that, too.

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'I've always wanted a broader view of life. I've always wanted to see something different.'

-- Briana Dockery, 16, junior, Early College at Bennett

Like many of the young women traveling with this year's Globetrotter team, Briana Dockery shares a strong bond with her family.

But it's not always easy. She's the eldest of six children in what she calls "a blended family." It means that when her father and stepmother married a few years ago, they each had children. Now, they're living as one family. It took time to get to know each other and adapt to new routines, Dockery says.

"We're getting there," she says.

Her blended family experience shows her that people from different backgrounds can forge strong bonds. She looks for the same experience when traveling.

She has traveled within the United States, but this will be her first international trip. She looks forward to exploring Romanian food and music.

"I've always wanted a broader view of life," she says. "I've always wanted to see something different."

The thing she'll miss most in Romania: her cell phone.

"I treat my cell phone like it's my baby," she says. "I take it everywhere with me."

It even charges on a pillow on her bed as she sleeps. She plans to take her phone, even though she won't be able to use it.

"I know it's going to be very hard, ... but I'll manage," she says.